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BARBS AT BIOASIA 2020

We heard about Make in India... Discovery in India is equally imp: KTRNAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

Union Minister Piyush Goyalon Tuesday suggested thatTelangana Minister forIndustries K T Rama Raoshould market for India.

He was speaking during theCEO Conclave at BioAsia 2020on Tuesday. Piyush observed:"We need to have KTR tomarket India a little more. Heis very good at it. But I thinkhe needs to go beyondHyderabad as we had a littleoverdose of Hyderabad in thecourse of the panel discussion".

In response, when KTR wit-tily asked Piyush if he was sug-gesting starting a nationalparty, the Union Minister said,

"We would welcome you tocome in as national party,right now there is a vacuumout there. Other than BharatiyaJanata Party, I don't see anyother party out there."

During the deliberations,KTR and industry leadersexpressed the need for restor-ing weighted average deduc-tion. KTR said, "We heardabout 'Make in India' which isimportant, but 'Discovery inIndia' is equally important.Research & Development inIndia is important. But wehear that weighted averagedeductions, which were at 200per cent, have been reduced to150 per cent, and by March itwill be 100 per cent. Union Minister Piyush Goyal and Telangana Minister for Industries K T Rama Rao

during the CEO Conclave at BioAsia 2020 on Tuesday.

SLOWDOWN IMPACT

HYDERABADWEATHER

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated February 18, 2019 5:00 PM

ALMANACTODAY

Month & Paksham:Magha & Krishna PakshaPanchangam:Tithi: Ekadashi: 03:01 pmNakshatram: Purva Ashadha:

Full NightTime to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 12:-30 pm – 01:56 pmYamagandam: 08:10 am – 09:37 amVarjyam: 04:15 pm – 05:56 pmGulika: 11:03 am - 12:30 pmGood Time: (to start any important

work)Amritakalam: 02:23 am – 04:05 amAbhijit Muhurtham: NIL

Forecast: Mostly SunnyTemp: 32/16Humidity: 27%Sunrise: 06.41Sunset: 06.19

TRS-BJP political slugfest at railways’ inaugural PNS n HYDERABAD

A political slugfest has erupt-ed over the railway budgetaryallocations to south India ingeneral and Telangana in par-ticular.

At the satellite railway sta-tion inauguration on Tuesday,Union Minister Piyush Goyalcountered Telangana AnimalHusbandry Minister TalasaniSrinivas Yadav over his com-ment that Centre was not sup-porting Telangana railway pro-jects and ignoring south India.

Talasani had earlier observedon stage, "Whichever state theRailway Minister hails from,those states get more alloca-tions. It would be better if youlook at south India, I requestyou to look at south India."

Piyush said, "Srinivasji, Ithink you are not aware of the

factual situation or you haveforgotten that this situationwhich you were mentioningused to happen in the Congress

government. This is not casewith the Narendra Modi gov-ernment. In Telangana, therailways budget for 2014-15

was Rs 258 crore, sanctioned bythe erstwhile government. Inthe recent budget presented bythe Narendra Modi govern-

ment for 2020-21, the railwaybudget has been increased 10times to more than Rs 2,602crore. I came with completeknowledge of what has beenallocated to Telangana in thelast 5 years and how weincreased budget."

After the inaugural, address-ing media, Piyush slammed theTRS government for opposingCAA, not implementing EBCreservation and AyushmanBharat. He said that peopletaught the TRS government abefitting lesson by defeatingCM's daughter. Pointing thatBJP was emerging as an alter-native in Telangana, he said,"By not implementing theCenter's schemes, the TRSgovernment is doing injusticeto brothers and sisters ofTelangana.

Piyush Goyal fires salvos against TRS Govt on budgetary allocations to state

Union Minister Piyush Goyal talking to media persons inHyderabad on Tuesday

Deliver or quit: KCR to Mayors and civic chiefs PNS n HYDERABAD

Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao onTuesday gave a clarion call topeople's representatives andadministrators that thePattana Pragathi programmeshould be conducted success-fully all over the State fromFebruary 24 to March 4,building on the well-laidfoundation of the PallePragathi scheme.

Addressing a state-levelmunicipal conference atPragathi Bhavan here onTuesday, the Chief Ministersuggested that all padayatras,

programmes and rallies to beundertaken by public represen-tatives should begin from Dalitbastis, where most of the poorlive. KCR wanted focus onplaces where SCs, STs andminorities live.

The Chief Minister said thattown development action plansshould be detailed ward-wise.He wanted the construction ofpublic toilets in all towns andcities to be completed withinthree months and all power-related issues to be solvedwithin eight months.Otherwise, the Chief Ministerwarned, the MLAs, Mayors,Chairpersons and

Commissioners concernedshould accept full responsibil-ity and quit their posts.

KCR wanted total disciplinein fiscal matters and wantedfunds to be spent only as perplans. In the context, heexpressed his displeasure thatmandal panchayat raj officershad been negligent and did notundertake tour of villages toreview Palle Pragathi pro-gramme.

He instructed Collectors tocamp overnight in villages andconduct padayatras to achievethe targets set under PallePragathi. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and IT Minister KT Rama Rao during state-

level municipal conference at Pragathi Bhavan on Tuesday

Build public toilets in three months Ward-wise plans under Pattana Pragathi

PNS n HYDERABAD

A speeding car hurtled off a fly-over killing one person andinjuring six others at BharathNagar here in the wee hours ofTuesday.

This is the second such inci-dent in the city in less than threemonths.

The police identified the dri-ver of the car as Sunil. Due toover speeding, Sunil lost con-trol of the vehicle and crashedthrough the Bharath Nagar fly-over's railing, before landing onthe road below, police said.

Mohd Sohail, a hotel owner,one of the passengers, died onthe spot. The other occupantsof the car viz. Sunil, Irfan,Ashwak, Ghouse and Sohelsustained injuries. They arebeing treated at GandhiHospital.

The incident occurred

around 02:15 AM on Tuesday,when the group of friends wereheading towards Erragaddafrom Bharath Nagar. Some per-sons standing underneath theflyover narrowly missed beinghit when the car came crashingdown.

The investigating officer,Narasimha Goud, sub-inspec-tor from Sanathnagar Police,said that the car landed on theside where Sohail was sitting,due to which, he suffered mul-tiple injuries and died on thespot.

1 killed, 6 hurt as carcareens off flyover

PNS n SANGAREDDY

Finance Minister T HarishRao was irked on Tuesdaywhen, instead of womensarpanches, he found theirkin deputising for them at thePalle Pragati-Panchayat RajSammelan held here.

Besides sarpanches, villagepanchayat secretaries andMPDOs had been invited tothe sammelan.

Relatives of womensarpanches not only took partin the meeting, but some ofthem also thought it fit tointeract with the minister.

A youth present at the meet-ing told the minister that his

mother was the sarpanch,much to the discomfiture ofthe minister. The ministerthen told him, "Your mothershould attend the sammelan,but not you".

Kin deputising for womensarpanches irk Harish

Power demand peaks to 12,009 MW PNS n HYDERABAD

Although summer is yet to setin fully, the demand for poweracross the state mounted to12,009 MW on Monday, asagainst the demand for 11,707MW power witnessed on May30, 2018.

On Sunday, the state record-ed the peak level demand of11,783 MW, surpassing the

2018 record. On Monday thedemand increased further by3,047 MW, taking the totaldemand to 12,009 MW.

Running of pump houses in

Kaleswaram LI project is stat-ed to be one of the main caus-es for the increase in thedemand. Water is beingpumped from Medigedda,Nandimedaram andLakshmipur pump houses.

Moreover, the area underpaddy crop during the Rabiseason increased manifold --from 6.83 lakh hectares to10.81 lakh hectares. Power

usage increased to energisepump sets under 25 lakh agri-cultural wells and bore wells.

Water is being pumped fromlift irrigation projects in theerstwhile Karimnagar district,with the daily power demandreaching 2,130 MW onFebruary 27 this year as against772 MW recorded on February17 last year.

L VENKAT RAM REDDYn HYDERABAD

The state government onTuesday issued orders extend-ing the tenure of the first PayRevision Commission (PRC)of Telangana State tillDecember 31, 2020.

The orders came as a shock-er to about 4.50 lakh state gov-ernment employees and 1.80lakh pensioners (retiredemployees), who now have towait longer to realize the ben-efits of the first PRC.

Employees are supposed toget the benefit of pay hike andother incentives of the firstPRC from July 2019 itself,since the pay scales under thelast PRC appointed in undivid-ed AP in July 2013 and imple-

mented from 2014 were applic-able till July 2019.

The first PRC of TS hasalready been delayed sinceJuly 2019 and the latest exten-sion means, it will be furtherdelayed for strategic reasons.

The last PRC, which was the10th in line, was appointed inundivided AP in 2013.

Currently, the employees inAP and TS are drawing the

benefits of the 10th PRC postbifurcation.

The new PRCs will be con-stituted once in five years torevise pay scales.

Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao hadappointed the first PRC ofTelangana state headed byretired IAS officer BR Biswal inMay 2018.

TS Govt staff have to waitlonger for pay hikeGovt extends PRC's tenure till Dec 31

Europe’s biggest bank HSBC to cut 35,000 jobsPNS n LONDON

HSBC Holdings PLC said onTuesday it would shed $100billion in assets, shrink itsinvestment bank, and revampits US and European business-es in a drastic overhaul that willmean 35,000 jobs cut over

three years.The bank, which has strug-

gled to keep pace with leaner

and more focused rivals, isseeking to become more com-petitive as it grapples withslowing growth in its majormarkets, the coronavirus epi-demic, Britain's EuropeanUnion exit and lower centralbank interest rates.

Piyush wants KTR to market India,says political vacuum exists

By defeating ChiefMinister’s daughter,people have given a

befitting reply to thestate government

conveying them not todifferentiate.

I feel sorry thatTelangana Cabinet met

yesterday and passedresolution to abrogate

CAA. For the sake ofappeasement, a state

government is opposingCAA.

He (KCR) is tryingto deviate Muslimsby bringreservation from 4 per cent to 12 percent which is falsereservation.

His son and onlyimportant ministerof his government,KTR said Centreand state have towork together,even I felt good.

The first PRC of TS hasalready been delayedsince July 2019 andthe latest extensionmeans, it will befurther delayed forstrategic reasons

Which side areyou on - Godseor Gandhi?:Kishor to Nitish

Das says no reason to doubt,govt will meetfiscal deficit targets

8

I-T raidsrevealJagan’sgame-planfor Naidu

2

5

n Crosses previous high of 11,707witnessed in May 2018

n Spike in demand due toKaleshwaram, Rabi season

4 4

44

44

4 4

Another Kambala racer has created a record in 100 metres during atraditional buffalo race in Karnataka covering the distance in 9.51

seconds, improving on the timing of Srinivas Gowda who stirred up asocial media frenzy with his recent running exploits. Nishant Shettyfrom Bajagoli Jogibettu broke 28-year-oldGowda's record at the Venoor Kambala onSunday, organisers said. Organisers saidthus far, four participants have joined theelite club of racers who have completed the100 metres in less than ten seconds.

ANOTHER KAMBALA RACER BREAKSSRINIVAS GOWDA’S 100 M RECORD

PM MEETS RICKSHAW PULLER WHOINVITED HIM TO WEDDING OF BETIDuring his one-day visit to his Lok Sabha constituency, Varanasi, on

February 16, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Mangal Kewat, therickshaw puller who had sent his daughter's wedd-ing invite to the PM. The Prime Minister enquiredabout the health and well-being of Mangal Ke-wat and his family and also commended himon his contribution to the Swacch BharatAbhiyaan. Inspired by PM Modi, MangalKewat has taken to cleaning the Ganga banksin his village on his own.

RAHUL DRAVID'S SON SAMITSLAMS SECOND DOUBLE-CENTURYRahul Dravid's son Samit Dravid once again showed his prowess with

the bat as he slammed a double-hundred in under-14 cricket whilerepresenting his school Mallya Aditi Internationalin the BTR Shield Under-14 Group I, Division IITournament on Saturday. Samit Dravid took just146 balls and smashed 33 boundaries en route tohis second double-century inside two months.Samit's batting blitz helped his side post animposing total of 377 for three from their allotted50 overs.

‘Bajrang Bali-Hanuman' was a big issue in the recently concludedDelhi Assembly Election 2020, but the issue has once again been

ignited by Aam Aadmi Party MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj, whoon Tuesday (February 18) announced that Sunderkand(dedicated to valour Lord Hanuman in Ramcharit Manas)will be recited on the first Tuesday of every month indifferent areas of his constituency. Earlier on Tuesday,Saurabh Bhardwaj tweeted that the recitation ofSundarkand will be held at 4:30 pm at theancient Shiva temple, Chirag Delhi.

AAP MLA BHARDWAJ TO ORGANISERECITATION OF SUNDERKAND

PINPOINT

The recent Income Taxraid on P. Srinivas Rao,former personal secre-

tary of TDP supremo N.Chandrababu Naidu is byall accounts one moreattempt by YSRCPchief YS JaganmohanReddy to corner hispolitical bête noire.

If one takes stockof the recent devel-opments, it can beassumed that Jagan is doinghis best not only to get closeto Prime Minister NarendraModi but also ensure thatNaidu is kept at a distancefrom the BJP.

The reported detection ofillegal transactions worth Rs2,000 crore during the I-Traids has already dented theTDP's, as well as Naidu's rep-utation. It may be argued thatthe I-T sleuths found only Rs2.60 lakh in the residence ofNaidu's PS, but the factremains that the figure of Rs2,000 crore immediatelyattracts one's attention and theTDP will find it difficult toconvince people otherwise.

The I-T raids are likely to

set off a chain of eventsthat have the possibility oftransfixing politicalobservers across the coun-

try, especially Delhi.On the ground

however, cadre of both theYSRCP and TDP say thatsuch tactics will put a full-stopto any president of a politicalparty would only be a dream.

The history between Naiduand Jagan has always been bit-ter and there does not appearto be any possibility of cordial-ity between the two, at leastnot in the foreseeable future.

During 2014-19, Naidu heldall the political aces and didhis best to clip the wings ofJagan with a view to ensure hissafe future. He exerted pres-sure on the Modi govern-ment to intensify investigationinto the cases being probed bythe CBI and get Jagan jailed bycancelling his bail in severalDA cases.

Had the Centre acquiesced,

Jagan would have found him-self behind bars by the timethe 2019 general electionscame. However, Modi didn'tyield to Naidu despite theirfriendship for various rea-sons, but worked to garnereverybody's support irrespec-tive of ideology. Interestingly,there is little to differentiatebetween Jagan and Naiduwhen it comes to dealing withthe Muslim community.

It may be recalled thatNaidu, as Chief Minister of

undivided AP, backtrackedon what he preached in themidterm elections for the LokSabha in February, 1998. Thepolitical approach of Naidu inpost-poll scenario was entire-ly contrary to what he had saidduring electioneering. He hadlaunched scathing attacks onthe BJP, describing it as a partythat demolishes mosques.After elections, he joinedhands with the BJP justifyingthe move by saying that it wasonly to keep Congress from

power.Naidu went on to break the

backbone of United Front,the third force that was alter-native to both the Congressand BJP.

Despite these flip-flops,Naidu never faced an adversepolitical situation for himselfin AP, and was least botheredabout aversion amongMuslims for his proximity to

the Vajpayee-led NDA regime.His stand was vindicated by

his party's thumping victory in1999 elections in which theTDP bagged 29 of the 42 LokSabha seats in undivided AP.Reaping dividends from thealliance, the BJP won sevenseats, its best ever perfor-mance in AP till date.Congress could only win onlyfive seats, despite being led bya political stalwart like YSRajasekhara Reddy.

Now, Jagan is followingNaidu when it comes to theMuslim community. A case inpoint was the controversialCitizenship Amendment Act,which the YSRCP supporteddespite absence of any formalrequest by the BJP. This wasdespite the YSRCP enjoyingthe support of Muslims in APbecause of its secular image ithad built by maintaining dis-tance from the BJP in pre-2019 political situation.

According to an internal

survey conducted at the behestof the YSRCP, there will not beany considerable backlashfrom Muslims if the partyfavours CAA, as its impactwould be negligible in AP.

In other words, Muslimswill understand the situationbeing faced by YSRCP andparty will assure the commu-nity that it will safeguard theirinterests.

However, Deputy ChiefMinister Amzath Basha'sthreats that he would resign inthe event of the YSRCP join-ing the NDA has alarmed theparty and the Jagan govern-ment.

This development stunnedthe YSRCP, especially sinceBasha was mum when hisparty supported CAA inParliament.

Basha is likely to be pacifiedby the leadership for the timebeing, but his dissidence hasalready made an impactamong the minority commu-

nity. Minister BotsaSatyanarayana might not haveconveyed the hidden messageregarding YSRCP joining theNDA which means sharingpower with the BJP. The BJPleadership might be inclinedtowards the YSRCP as thiswould boost the NDAstrength in the Rajya Sabha.

If indeed the YSRCP joinsthe NDA government, paral-lels can be drawn betweenNaidu and Jagan and theircapacity to influence the pre-vious and present NDA gov-ernments. Naidu was the life-line for NDA-1 with his 29-strong force of MPs, whileJagan, despite having 22 MPs,has little to offer the BJP in theLok Sabha. It is only in theRajya Sabha that he would bebeneficial to the BJP.

By trying to keep the TDPaway from the NDA, Jagan hasindicated that he does notwant to face a TDP-BJP-JanaSena alliance in 2024.

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HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 19, 2020 hyderabad 02

Endowments Minister Indrakaran Reddy, MLA Chennamaneni Ramesh, EO of Vemulawada temple, priests on Tuesday inviteChief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to the celebrations of Mahashivaratri festival at Vemulawada temple

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During 2014-19, Naidu held all thepolitical aces and did his best to clip thewings of Jagan with a view to ensure hissafe future. He exerted pressure on theModi government to intensifyinvestigation into the cases being probedby the CBI and get Jagan jailed bycancelling his bail in several DA cases

PINPOINT

I-T raids give a hint of Jagan's game-plan

PNS n HYDERABAD

The TRS is all set to get author-ity in District CooperativeCentral Banks as majority ofthe Primary AgriculturalCooperative Societies chair-man posts went to the TRS-supported candidates.

A notification to elect DCCBgoverning bodies will bereleased on February 20. Thenotification was slated to bereleased on February 17 itself,but was delayed as voters' listswere not ready.

In the DCCB governingbody elections, PACS chairmenconstitute the electorate.

In all, chairmen of 80 PACSwere elected on Monday buttheir details are awaited,according to department ofcooperation.

In 905 PACS chairmanposts, 800 went to TRS sup-ported candidates, 68 toCongress-supported candi-dates and 33 were others.

PACS chairman elect 16directors for each DCCB andthe directors elect their chair-man. DCCB are yet to be con-stituted for newly-formed dis-tricts. Since majority of thechairman posts of PACS wentto the TRS-supported candi-dates, there is a keen competi-tion for the DCCB directorposts in the party. Lobbying

with Ministers and MLAs forDCCB director posts hasincreased. After the DCCBgoverning body elections,chairmen of the DCCB in turnwill elect Telangana State ApexCooperative Bank chairman.

The DCCB governing bodyshould have representation ofweavers, fisheries and sheepcooperative societies and milkproducers' societies. Thereshould be at least four directors

on the governing body fromthese societies.

As elections could not beheld to these societies the pastchairmen are being continuedas in-charges. When generalsecretary Uduta Mallesamappealed to the cooperativecommissioner to put off thegoverning body elections of theDCCB till elections are held tothese four societies, the officialexpressed his inability.

Clear edge to TRS in DCCB electionsTRS leaders lobbying for DCCB post PV KONDAL RAO n WARANGAL

Four leaders from the ruling TRS are aspiring for the coveted DCCBchairperson post in Warangal district. As the party high commanddecides the candidate, the leaders of the TRS have started lobbyingfor the berth. Dharmasagar society chairperson Gundreddi RajeshwarReddy is staking his claim in the limits of Station Ghanpur segmentwith the support of Rythu Samanvaya Samithi chairperson PallaRajeshwar Reddy. His candidature was promoted by the leaders ofReddy community and since the Reddy chairpersons are many innumber in the erstwhile district, the post was sought by the leadersof that category. Marneni Ravinder Rao of Wardhannapet society isclaiming the support of the local legislator Aroori Ramesh andMinister Errabelli Dayakar Rao for this coveted post. Dayakar Raohimself was groomed as a leader from the DCCB post and sinceMarneni is a close aide and a relative to the Minister, his candidatureseemed prominent in the list in Warangal district. Apart from thesetwo leaders two more leaders are vying for the post from theMahabubabad region of the erstwhile district. The district usuallyallocated the DCCB posts for the surrounding mandals of Warangalurban and the ODCMS posts for the leaders belonging to theMahabubabad division and Narsampet area till date. But, since theerstwhile Warangal is now divided into six districts the competitionamong the new regions has become imminent and the leaders arealso taking it as a challenge to encourage their supporters as theaspirants. Marri Ranga Rao is aspiring for the DCCB berth fromMahabubabad and his candidature is being supported by the locallegislator. Challa Linga Reddy of Nekkonda is also trying for thecoveted post. He hails from the Guduru area of the erstwhile districtand he is being promoted on the lines as the farmer and owner ofgodowns in the region. Apart from these four leaders several othersare also trying to attract the attention of the high command, but sincethe leaders of the party in Warangal have entrusted the responsibilityof choosing the leader from their choice the district MinistersErrabelli Dayakar Rao and Satyavathi Rathod are concentratingseriously on the selection process. However they say that the choiceof the high command would be final in this aspect.

A notification to elect DCCB governing bodieswill be released on February 20. Thenotification was slated to be released onFebruary 17 itself, but was delayed as voters'lists were not ready

Medaram devotees leave behind 1 cr kg garbagel Garbage clearance works on war footing l CRPF jawans, police officials take part in Swachh MedaramPNS n MULUGU

Hundreds of sanitation work-ers lifted the garbage generat-ed during the Medaram festi-val by working in three shifts.

The total garbage collectedis estimated to be more than 1crore kilograms, has beendeposited in five dumping yar-ds in the vicinity of Medaramwith the help of 72 tractors, 20JCB machines and four dozers.In all, 110 officers and super-visors worked to ensure 80 percent of garbage has beencleared in 10 days.

The officials estimated thatcrore devotees had attended thefour-day biennial festival,which ended on February 8, atMedaram village. The garbage

problem compounded becauseof rain during the festival. Thegarbage became damp and wasstinking.

Prior to the festival, officialsadvised the visitors and tradersnot to use plastic covers and sa-chets. It has reduced the bur-

den to an extent. Lot of liquorbottles all along the route toMedaram were found abando-ned. Thousands of goats andsheep were sacrificed duringthe festival period. Therefore,the residue of the goats andsheep were found all over

Medaram. Mulugu PanchayatOfficer Venkaiah, who wasentrusted to monitor the clear-ing of garbage, got the meatand bones residue buriedinstead of taking them to else-where. The garbage clearingworks were originally sched-

uled to be completed byFebruary 18. But, the deadlinehas been extended for twodays. However, 80 per cent ofthe garbage has been cleared tilldate. CRPF jawans and policeofficials also took part inSwachh Medaram

The hundi collections in Medaram are likely to surpass the recordsof previous years this time. The endowments wing estimated that

the collections would cross Rs 11 crore mark by the end of totalcounting of 494 hundis. The collections after counting the collectionsin 420 hundis have crossed 10 crore on Tuesday. In the remaining 74hundis the collections may surpass 11 crore. The counting processwill be completed by Wednesday. The last hundis brought from theJathara venue may not be on par with the filled hundis as they arenot filled compared to other hundis, the endowments officials opined.

Hundi collections to cross Rs 11 cr

Minister, Speaker opendouble bedroom houses PNS n WANAPARTHY

Agriculture Minister S Niran-jan Reddy and Assembly Spea-ker Pocharam Srinivas Reddyon Tuesday toured Wanapar-thy constituency and inaugu-rated the double bedroom ho-uses for the poor in Eerla than-da and Karne thanda of Gha-napur mandal of the district.

Addressing a gathering onthe occasion, Niranjan Reddysaid that the houses would beallotted only to the eligible andover 1,400 units are underconstruction.

Niranjan Reddy alleged thatthe Opposition filed casesagainst construction of doublebedroom houses by approach-ing the court. Niranjan Reddy

appealed to the AssemblySpeaker to allot 1,000 morehouses to the constituency.

The Agriculture Ministersaid that the houses would beallotted to all the eligible fam-ilies in serial order and askedthem not to be worried overthe delay. Irrigation facilitywould be provided to Karnethanda through lift-irrigation,he said.

Pocharam Srinivas Reddyaccused the successive rulersfor failing to provide irrigationfacility to parched Mahbubna-gar."With the support of ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao, the Agriculture Ministersucceeded in bringing irriga-tion facility to the district inrecord time," the Speaker said.

Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy, Assembly Speaker Pocharam SrinivasReddy with TRS leaders at Wanaparthy constituency on Tuesday

PNS n HYDERABAD

Gemini Edibles and Fats IndiaPrivate Limited as a part of theircorporate social responsibility(CSR) initiative, extend supportfor setting up of 'Bharosa Sup-port Centre for Women & Ch-ildren' at Warangal. An MoUwas signed by the head of SHEteams Swati Lakra IPS andvice-president of GEF AkshayChowdhary in the presence ofsales and marketing vice-pres-ident of GEF India P ChandraShekhara Reddy on Tuesday.

The Bharosa Centre will bemanaged by an all-women te-am. It will be equipped to facil-itate immediate, emergencyand non-emergency access to arange of services.

Speaking at the occasionAkshay Chowdhry said, "AtGEF India, we are always look-ing at ways to encouragewomen safety and makingthem self reliant. In the past, wehave organised freedom self-employment cookery work-shops for women to make themindependent.”

PNS n HYDERABAD

The state government onTuesday undertook a majorrevamp of municipal adminis-tration by effecting transfer of35 municipal commissionersacross the state at one go.

The move assumed signifi-cance in the backdrop of thedecision taken by the CM KChandrasekhar Rao. The statehas issued an order transfer-ring 35 municipal commissio-ners on Tuesday. Most of thembelong to Grade-III level.

The government appointedMukund Reddy, Prashanthi,Rajanikanth Reddy and Thr-illeshwar as the deputy com-

missioners of GHMC. NaliniPadmavathi has been transfe-rred from the post of GHMCdeputy commissioner andappointed as joint director inthe office of Director of MA.Venugopal Reddy has beenposted as deputy director inthe office of Director of MA.

Other officers who have be-en appointed as new MunicipalCommissioners include MdZakeer Ahmed (Kalwakurthy),Akula Venkatesh (Bellampal-ly), R Triambakeshwar Rao(Luxettipet), Anvesh (Nagark-urnool), K Jayanth KumarReddy (Jagityal), N Balakrish-na (Nirmal), Sujatha (Ameen-pur), P Vemana Reddy (Alia),

Venkata Manikaran (Tellapur),Lavanya (Shadnagar), B SharatChandra (Sangareddy), KSrinivas Reddy (Tandur), MdSaber Ali (Shamshabad), S Vi-dyadhar (Narsampet), B Yad-agiri (Parakal), Ch Thirupati(Peddapalle), M Srinivas Red-dy (Vemulawada), K Sujatha(Sathupalli), Veerender (Yell-andu), Gadde Raju (Mandam-arri), Maheshwar (Wanapar-thy), Spandana (Sadasivapet),Qhamer Ahmed (Yellareddy),B Nagireddy (Huzurnagar), BGangadhar (Kamareddy),Rajitha (Yadagirigutta), Palla-rao (Nandikonda), Prabhakar(Chityal) and Shyamsunder(Amangal).

GEF adopts Bharosa Centre at Warangal

State transfers 35 municipalcommissioners in Telangana

T-Hub to lead capacitybuildingprogrammePNS n HYDERABAD

T-Hub has been chosen tolead a capacity-building pro-gramme for incubation man-agers from 30 select incuba-tion centres across India. T-Hub won the bid organisedby Startup India’s DPIIT,whose aim is to train businessincubation managers andsupport them through 1:1mentorship to create a suc-cessful startup ecosystem.

T-Hub, in partnership withWadhwani Foundation, willdesign and implement theacceleration program to act asa growth hack for these selectincubators and help themsucceed.

Five applications wereshortlisted for this bid, and T-Hub was selected to Designa world-class entrepreneursupport program that coversall aspects of incubation,such as sourcing and selec-tion, incubation and startupbuilding, community engage-ment, monitoring and track-ing.

The call for applications forincubators in India is nowopen. The program will beginin March 2020 by onboard-ing the incubators.

l Out of 905 PACSchairman posts, 800went to the ruling TRSsupported candidates,68 to Congress-supported candidates

and 33 were others

PNS n HYDERABAD

Hyderabad Central Universitypenalised three students fororganising Shaheen Bagh nightevent against the CAA(Citizenship Amendment Act)at the north shopping complexin the University premises onJanuary 31.

They were slapped with afine of Rs 5,000 each for disci-plinary action. The order waspassed by the Vice-Chancellorof the University against thestudents Faseeh Ahmed, PhDCommunication, SahanaPradeep, PhD TranslationStudies and AS Adish, MAEnglish.

An incident report was sub-mitted by the security officer tothe Vice-Chancellor which saidthat the three students wereinvolved in organising theShaheenbagh night event on

January 31 from 9 pm to 2:30am on February 1. It also saidthat they were involved inpainting graffiti and defacingthe walls at the north shoppingcomplex, despite instructionsfrom the security personnel notto conduct the events as therewas no permission to organise

events post 9 pm. Further, thestudents were warned to becautious and focus on theirstudies in future. Recurrence ofsuch incidents or indulge inany acts of indiscipline, wouldhave serious repercussion ontheir academic career withstrong disciplinary action.

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 19, 2020 hyderabad 03

Film actor Nandamuri Balakrishna and officials of Basavatarakam Cancer Hospital on Tuesday invited Telangana Governor DrTamilisai Soundararajan to participate as chief guest in the upcoming health programme at Basavatarakam Cancer Hospital

SPECIAL GGUEST

A report wassubmitted by thesecurity officer tothe V-C which saidthat the threestudents organisedthe Shaheenbaghnight event onJanuary 31 from 9pm to 2:30 am onFebruary 1

RIMEORNERC

Techie hangs selfover ‘depression'

A33-year-old man working in amultinational company was

found hanging from the ceilinghook in Gachibowli on Tuesday.Police suspect that the man wasdepressed and resorted to theextreme step. The victim wasidentified as PNVS Sunny Babu,a native of Srikakulam. Babu wasworking with Genpact andresiding at Sudarshan Nagar inGachibowli. According to thepolice, Babu's brother in law,Sampath Kumar had received anemail from him at 1 PM onTuesday. In the email, Babustated that he was going tocommit suicide. Sampath Kumarsaw the email around 02:15 PMand rushed to Babu's room.Sampath Kumar then broke openthe door only to find the body ofBabu hanging from a ceilinghook using a nylon rope.

Three women arrested for false housing promises

Three women were arrested bythe Banjara Hills Police of

Hyderabad on Tuesday forcheating and collecting moneyfrom gullible in the name of thegovernment's double bedroomhouses scheme. The accusedwere identified as Mekala Jyothi,43, Mandara Anupama, 30, GopaLakshmi, 39, and Oggu Jayanthi,30 said the police, adding thatanother accused, Mohd.Shayriyar Ali alias Hyder Ali, aGHMC employee, was reportedlyabsconding. The arrest was donefollowing a complaint from K.Sridevi, a maid servant fromYousufguda who stated that shemet Anupama who resides in thesame colony and that she offeredher a double bedroom house afew months back. The victimwas told that Anupama willcollect money and offer a doublebedroom flat, following whichshe and her friend Rajitha paidRs 18,000. After the onlineapplication of house sanctionfrom Hyderabad DistrictCollectorate and after receivingstamp and signatures after somedays, she informed that doublebedroom room was sanctionedon her name and took Rs 10,000again at her residence, in themeantime Jyothi was present ather residence stamped with afake signature on the application.Upon learning the con, the victimapproached the Banjara Hillspolice and lodged a complaint,following which the gang wascaught and remanded to judicialcustody on Tuesday.

Armed bikers rob youngster

Two bikers threatened ateenager at knife-point and

robbed him off Rs 4,000 atAghapura area in Habeeb Nagaron Monday night. According tothe police, the unidentified duocame on a scooter and went intoNew Ajwa Electrical store atAghapura around 11 pm onMonday. They threatened ateenager in the shop with a knifeand took away Rs 4,000 fromthe cash counter before fleeing.On information the Habeebnagarpolice rushed to the spot andtook up investigation. Policebooked cases under relevantsections of the IPC and formedthree teams to identify and nabthe robbers.

Charging stations: EESL inks MoU with GHMCPNS n HYDERABAD

Energy Efficiency ServicesLimited (EESL), a joint ventureof four National Public SectorEnterprises under the CentralMinistry of Power has signedan MoU with Bharat SancharNigam Limited (BSNL), for theinstallation of public chargingstations to boost e-mobilityadoption across India.

Under the partnership, EESLwill set up public chargingstations in 1,000 BSNL sites ina phased manner on a panIndia basis. EESL will make theentire upfront investment onthe services pertaining to theMoU, along with the operationand maintenance of the charg-ing infrastructure by using

qualified personnel. BSNLwould be responsible for pro-viding the requisite space andpower connections to installthe charging infrastructure.

Talking about EESL's mis-sion to build a robust EVinfrastructure, managing direc-tor of EESL Saurabh Kumarsaid, "Building a strong sup-

porting EV infrastructure iskey to cultivating consumerconfidence in electric vehiclesand would enhance consumerconvenience and reduce therange anxiety as well. EESL isleading the initiatives to pro-mote EV adoption in India un-der its national e-mobility pro-gramme. We are glad to part-ner with BSNL for synergisticaction on setting up publiccharging infrastructure andservices across India." Takingforward the vision of the

National Electric MobilityProgramme, EESL has com-missioned 300 AC and 170 DCchargers across India.

Meanwhile, in the pursuit ofincreasing the charging infra-structure penetration, EESLhas signed MoU with GreaterHyderabad Municipal Corpor-ation (GHMC) and develop-ment authorities of other statesincluding Noida, Chennai,Jaipur and Kolkata for develop-ment of public charging sta-tions in their respective areas.

EESL has signed MoU with GHMC anddevelopment authorities of other statesincluding Noida, Chennai, Jaipur and Kolkatafor development of public charging stations

PNS n HYDERABAD

Union Railway Minister PiyushGoyal said that MMTS PhaseII will be completed soon andurged the state government torelease its share on a prioritybasis.

On Tuesday Piyush alongwith host of dignitaries laidfoundation stone for develop-ment of Satellite Terminal atCharlapalli Railway stationand Electrification ofYerraguntla - Nandyal section(via Remote video link). Healso dedicated double line withelectrification of Guntakal -Kalluru section and free high-speed Wi-Fi facility at 427railway stations in Telanganaand Andhra Pradesh to thenation, at a function held atSecunderabad Railway Station.

Addressing the gathering,Piyush stated that Union gov-ernment is serving all theregions with responsibilitytowards 130 crore Indians. Heinformed that Rs 2,602 croreshas been sanctioned towardsvarious developmental pro-jects in Telangana in the cur-rent rail budget as against theallocation of Rs 258 crores dur-ing the year 2014-15, which is10 times higher.

Piyush also informed that arecord of 158 route kilometersnew lines, 48 route kilometersdoubling and third line facili-ty and electrification of 303route kilometers has been doneduring the last-five-and-a-half-years.

A total of 12 new projectsworth of about Rs 10,000crores have been sanctionedand works are in progress atvarious stages. Further 22 new

trains have been introducedfrom Telangana region andservices of 42 trains have beenextended to facilitate the pas-sengers. He stated thatCharlapalli Railway station willbe developed with an expendi-ture of around Rs 250 croresand another terminal station atLingampalli will be given duepriority.

Provision of free high speedWi-Fi facilities at 427 railway

stations in the states ofTelangana and AndhraPradesh will immensely bene-fit the youth and students.The Minister also informedthat Secunderabad railway sta-tion stands in 4th position inIndian Railways in usage of freehigh speed wi-fi.

Speaking on the occasion,Minister of state G KishanReddy stated that develop-ment of satellite terminal atCharlapalli Railway station isvery useful for the residents ofHyderabad east side as well aswest side due to its strategicpositioning near outer ringroad. He urged the railways toexpedite the MMTS Phase IIand extend it to the popularpilgrim center Yadadri.

Provision of freehigh speed Wi-Fifacilities at 427railway stations inthe states ofTelangana and APwill immenselybenefit the youthand students

Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal called on Telangana Governor Dr. TamilisaiSoundararajan at Raj Bhavan on Tuesday

Piyush: MMTS Phase II will be completed soon

3 students fined for organising‘Shaheen Bagh night’ in HCU

Photographer arrested forsexually assaulting minorPNS n HYDERABAD

The Neredmet Police havearrested a photographer whohad sexually assaulted a girl inhis photo studio at Neredmeton Tuesday. The situation inthe locality turned tense withlocals thrashing the manbefore handing him over to thecops.

The arrested person hasbeen identified as 45-year-old Mohammed Saleem, aresident of Defence colony.Saleem runs RS Digital PhotoStudio at Sainikpuri inNeredmet.

According to the police,On Monday evening, the vic-tim, an intermediate student,came to his studio to buy aphoto frame. As the girl wasalone, Saleem took advantageof the situation, forced himselfon her and sexually abusedher.

However, the girl escapedfrom him, ran out of the stu-dio and informed her father ofthe situation.

The victim’s father alongwith a few locals then caught

Saleem who was trying toescape and thrashed him upbefore handing over to thepolice. Saleem, sustained someinjuries and was admitted to ahospital where he is recover-ing.

The Neredmet Police haveregistered a case underProtection of Children fromSexual Offence (POCSO) Actand section 354 A of IndianPenal Code (IPC).

Further investigation isunderway, said the police,adding that the crowd was dis-persed after assurance of strictaction against him.

10k passengers screened for Covid19 at RGIAPNS n HYDERABAD

As many as 10,652 passengerswere screened at the RajivGandhi International Airportin Hyderabad since thebeginning of corona scare. Ason date, none of the Covidsuspects were tested positivein Telangana. On Tuesday,442 passengers were screenedat airport. In all, 242 passen-gers are under home quaran-tine for 28 days. On Tuesday,1 passenger was admitted atGandhi hospital, is underobservation in isolationwards.

Till now, 98 samples havebeen taken from passengersand all found negative. As perthe medical bulletin byTelangana Health Depart-ment, "The health status ofthe suspects who are underobservation at home andhospitals are stable." Statehelpline continues to receivecalls and got 439 calls recei-ved as on Tuesday. Across theworld 71,429 cases have beenreported while 2,162 werereported on Tuesday alone.

Official: AK-47 used by man was stolen from PSPNS n SANGAREDDY

The AK-47 rifle used by aman to fire at his neigh-bour's house recently inneighbouring Siddipet inTelangana was allegedlystolen from a police stationnearly three years ago, asenior police official said onTuesday. During interroga-tion, the accused told thepolice that he had stolen theassault weapon and a Carbonrifle from the police station inSiddipet in the early hours ofMarch 13, 2017, SiddipetPolice Commissioner NShweta told reporters.

A detailed report would besent to higher officials on the'negligence' of police per-sonnel on duty in theHusnabad station from where the weapons were stolen, shesaid. After the weapons wentmissing, personnel of thestation had registered a casebut it remained unsolved.

Devuni Sadanadam, alabourer in Akkannapet vil-lage, had allegedly openedfire from the AK-47 at hisneighbour's house over a

petty issue on February 6, butnone was injured with thebullets hitting a wall. He hadfled the scene then.

Police later arrested himand recovered the AK-47and one Carbon rifle from hishouse and registered a case ofattempt to murder.

The police official said theaccused told them that heused to visit the Husnabadstation frequently in con-nection with a financial dis-pute he had with a person.

According to the in-chargecommissioner, he hadclaimed that on March 13,2017, the day of Holi festival,when he went to the stationaround 4 am, no policemenwere in sight. He then openedthe weapon room and tookaway the AK-47 and theCarbon rifle.

Banner set up by GHMC zonal chief was eco-friendly PNS n HYDERABAD

A day after Vigilance andDisaster Management wing ofGreater Hyderabad MunicipalCorporation fined zonal com-missioner of Khairtabad forsetting up flexi near Golconda,it issued clarification onTuesday stating that the bannerwas eco-friendly and was notviolating rules.

The Greater HyderabadMunicipal Corporation

EV&DM wing cancels the fineimposed on the Khairtabadzonal commissioner onTuesday.

The zonal commissioner ofKhairtabad in a statedthat, "As per thereport submittedby the deputydirector of UrbanBiodiversity, instruc-tions were received from theGHMC Head Office thatMyspace advertising agency

have been requested for supplyof 40 banners and the saidagency has supplied 40 cloth

banners toKhairatabad Zone."

Deputy directorof UBD hasf u r t h e rinformed that

the said clothbanners have been

erected at the distribution andplanting sites in connectionwith the tree plantation pro-

gramme undertaken byGHMC on Monday.

The statement said, "Bannerserected by the UBD sectionwere completely made of fab-ric cloth with specification'CT-120, 100% weaved plaincotton cloth' over which thecontent was printed. Thesewere not in violation of anynorms of the government orGHMC and are not flexi ban-ners made up of any materialbanned by the government."

Watery gravefor threeteenagersPNS n SANGAREDDY

Three teenagers, all agedbelow 14 years, met with awatery grave on Tuesdaywhen they went to KottaCheruvu in Annaram villagefor a swim while enjoyingtheir school holidays.

They were identified asSandeep, 13, and Mahipal, 14,of Annaram village andPallav,13, of Suraram village.They were Class 8 students ofKendriya Vidyalaya-I atAnnaram. It was Sandeepwho first stepped into thetank. When he was being car-ried away by strong currents,Mahipal and Pallavam also gotinto the water and tried to savehim in vain. They then raisedan alarm attracting the atten-tion of people in the vicinity.It was too late by the time thepassers-by rushed to the boys'rescue. A pall of gloomdescended on the two villageswith the death of the trio inthe drowning accident.

The Gummadidala policeare investigating the case. SIRajesh Nayak said that a casehas been registered.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The MD of The India Cem-ents Limited company N Srin-ivasan approached the HighCourt urging it to quash theED case registered againsthim.

In his petition he told theHC that the ED had filed acase under Section 3 and 4 ofPrevention of MoneyLaundering Act 2002. Thecounsel for the ED filed itscounter affidavit in the caseand urged the court to dismissthe petition filed by Srinivasan.

India CementsMD urges HC toquash ED caseagainst him

Three habitual offenders heldPNS n HYDERABAD

Officials of the West Zoneteam of the Commissioner'sTask Force apprehended threepersons involved in bike andcell phone thefts in the limitsof Market PS, Begumpet PS,Shahinayathgunj PS andSaifabad PS on Tuesday.

The arrested persons havebeen identified as Shaik Aslam,19, Naser Khan, 19 and SahilFardeen Khan, 18. Naser Khanand Sahil Fardeen are child-hood friends whereas ShaikAslam was friends with themfrom the past four years.

Three of them are habitualoffenders and committed rob-beries and snatched cellphones. They were previously

arrested by Nampally PS,Humayun Nagar PS, SaifabadPS, Kukatpally PS and Raje-ndra Nagar PS.

After being released fromjail, the trio met regularly atGatala Masjid in Mallepally toconsume ganja, cigarettes and

alcohol. As their pocket moneywas not sufficient, they hatc-hed a plan to commit theft oftwo wheelers from parkingplaces and theft of cell phonesfrom the buses and autos andothers thefts in the area to earneasy and illegal money. Thetrio used to roam late nightsand recce isolated places forcommitting offences. Aftercompletion of recce they willcommit the offences. Duringthe past week, the trio stole twocell phones and two motorcy-cles. On Tuesday, Shaik Aslamand Naser Khan came to themarket area of Secunderabadto sell the stolen propertywhen the West Zone TaskForce team apprehended themalong with stolen property.

PNS n HYDERABAD

A city court here on Tuesdayadjourned the verdict in a casepertaining to terror suspectSyed Abdul Karim alias Tundato March 3. Nampally Crim-inal Court posted the case tothe next month as the judgewas on leave.

The verdict was to be pro-nounced on February 4 butwas adjourned to February 18.

Tunda, a suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba operative and bombexpert, is an accused in 1998

Saleem Junaid module casethat was booked by the SIT ofthe Central Crime Station.

Tunda, 77, was arrested bycentral agencies in 2013 on theIndo-Nepal border. Currentlylodged in Ghaziabad jail, he isfacing terror charges in vari-ous places in the country.

Tunda allegedly trainedyoungsters to commit terroractivities in India. He alongwith Junaid, a Pakistani nati-onal, allegedly conspired tocommit a terror strike duringGanesh festival in 1998.

Hyderabad courtdefers verdict again

TUNDA CASE

3-day pensioners' executive meetfrom February 23PNS n HYDERABAD

The state executive of pen-sioners association will beheld in the city from February23 to February 25 commenc-ing the event with a publicmeeting at Indira Park onFebruary 23.

Lodging and boardingfacilities will be provided atSundaraiah VignananKendram for the travelersarriving from long distances.

Registration of delegateswill take place from 8.30 amon February 24. The delegatefee is fixed as Rs 200 per head.

Bank employeehacked to deathPNS nMEDAK

In a gruesome incident thattook place in Gajwel town ofSiddipet district on Tuesdayevening Divya, 25, a bankemployee in APGVB washacked to death by unknownmiscreants in her room.

According to police thebank employee came to herroom after completing herduties and was preparing herevening food when suspect-ed miscreants entered herroom and hacked her todeath.

The victim is a native ofYellareddipet village inSiricilla district . The victimsmarriage is scheduled on26th of this month.

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 19, 2020 hyderabad 04

Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao addresses newly elected mayors, chairpersons, councillors, ward members and corporators at the state-level municipal conference held at Pragathi Bhavan on Tuesday

CM sensitises representatives about duties, responsibilitiesl Don't make false promises to people: KCR tells public representatives of ULBs PNS n HYDERABAD

The onus and responsibility ofmaking towns and cities inTelangana as the ideal townsand cities in the country is onthe newly elected mayors,chairpersons, counsellors, wardmembers and corporators,Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao said atthe state-level municipal con-ference held at Pragathi Bhavanon Tuesday.

The Chief Minister educat-ed the public representativesabout their duties and respon-sibilities. Laced with illustra-tions, he told the gathering onhow public representativesshould conduct themselves inthe public life.

While underlining the needto be steadfast to the work andachieving goals, KCR quoted a

poem from Barthruhari'sSubhshitam as translated byYenugu Laxmana Kavi whichin Telugu goes like" A r a m b h i m p a r uneechamanavulu…."

"You should emerge victori-ous while doing your duty. Youwill come across a variety ofexperiences in public life. Now,politics have become easy andsimple due to the prevailing sit-uation in the state and in thecountry. During the Britishcolonial regime and later forsome time, politics used to bedifferent. Politics then used tomean facing difficulties, doinghard work, suffering jail termsand a great sacrifice, sometimeseven sacrificing one's life. Afterthe colonial rule, in indepen-dent India, we are indulging incomfortable politics and enjoy-ing them. In those days, it was

sacrifice and giving away one'slife but now we are in indepen-dent India, and are immersedwith the nation building activ-ity," the Chief Minister said.

"Those who understand thiswill get a good name andfame. Only 140 of you out of 5crores of people have becomemayors and chairmen. This islike a stepping-stone and it alldepends on how much do youscale up," he added.

"Don't lose your balancewhile discharging duties. Wegot Telangana State with lot ofdifficulties, sacrifices and hardwork. We fought a relentlessbattle believing that we will bebenefitted if we get our ownstate. Mission Kakatiya andMission Bhagiratha pro-grammes are implemented inall the villages without any dis-crimination and without any

scope for politics. To do anywork, commitment and dedi-cation is required. Whateverwork you want to do, take it upseriously. Many people may nothave the required self-confi-dence. But it should not be thecase. Understand with aware-ness and take up the responsi-bility, if you really want to do.Then only accept the task andcomplete it with dedication andyou shall succeed. Peopleshould have faith and reposeconfidence in you. If a leaderwins faith and confidence ofpeople, he or she will be total-ly supported by the people"said KCR.

"Public representatives sho-uld not indulge in false talk.Don't make false promises topeople that you will get all theworks done overnight. Preparea proper planning to undertake

any work or task. Developtowns and cities with people'sparticipation. Have less photo-ops, concentrate and focusmore on executing the works,"said CM.

"The term Municipality hasbecome a synonym for drai-nage, dirt and garbage. Baldia(Municipality) became a sec-ond name for corruption. It isoften referred among the peo-ple that Baldia, Khaya, Peeya,Chaldiya (staff came, ate, drankand left). To remove the badname, transparent policies sho-uld be adapted. There shouldbe a non-corrupt system in pla-ce. The town's progress shouldbe based on proper planning.It should not be haphazard. Itshould be in your hands to cha-nge the towns and cities as thebest ones among others in thecountry," the CM remarked.

Cong leaders boycottMunicipal Sammelan,allege its mere ‘show’PNS n HYDERABAD

The leaders of Congress partyboycotted the meeting con-vened by the Chief Ministerwith newly elected mayors,chairpersons, commissionersand MLAs to formulate pro-grammes on proposedPattana Pragathi, held atPragathi Bhavan on Tuesday.

The Congress leadersalleged that the municipalelections were held with sev-eral illegal activities like dis-tribution of money, liquorand misuse of power.Congress also alleged thatthe election commission con-ducted municipal electionswith partial attitude.

Speaking to The Pioneer,CLP leader Mallu BhattiVikramarka said that theChief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao conveneda meeting to boast his 'show',instead the meeting wasmeant to discuss about thepolicy decisions includingSecretariat shifting, appoint-ment of RTI Commissioners,industrial policy and others.

"How can the Oppositionparties attend the meetingheld to boast about KCR andTRS?" he said.

Another Congress MLAKomatireddy Rajagopal

Reddy alleged that KCR hasno belief in democracy. Thereis no need for the CongressMLAs to attend the meetingsconvened by KCR.

"We would have attendedthe meet if KCR accepts oursuggestions and advices. Howcan we attend the meet whenKCR has no belief in democ-racy," Rajagopal Reddy said.

KCR is treating Telanganaas he is the ' jagirdar'(Landlord) of state, RajagopalReddy said.

How can theOpposition partiesattend the meeting

held to boast about KCR andTRS?— MALLU BHATTI VIKRAMARKA

TS CLP leader

Cong will notreact to cheapcomments ofMIM: Hussain PNS n HYDERABAD

Congress Rajya Sabha mem-ber from Karnataka SayyedNasir Hussain has opinedthat small party like MIMmakes statements to remainin the news.

Hussain said that MIMparty wants to prove its pres-ence by criticising Congressparty. He said that theCongress party will not reactto the cheap comments.

It may be recalled here thatMIM chief AsaduddinOwaisi criticised Congressparty in Karnataka state alleg-ing that the Congress willnever come to power again.

Speaking to the media atGandhi Bhavan on Tuesday,Hussain said that one canunderstand that the BJP isagainst Daliths andMinorities while seeing thedevelopments taking place inthe nation since 2014.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Congress MP from BhongirKomatireddy Venkat Reddy hasurged the Union Minister ofState of the Ministry of YouthAffairs and Sports Kiran Rijijuto construct a multi-purposesports complex in his Lok Sabhaconstituency.

Venkat Reddy explainedUnion Minister that there is a700-feet height hill in Bhongirwhere Maloth Purna, whoscaled Everest mountain, prac-ticed. Komatireddy said thatthere are many lakes and tanksin his constituency and urgedthe minister to encourage watergames in his constituency.

The Congress MP said thatthe future generations would bebenefited if constructed sportscomplex in Bhongir. Several

youth come forward to practicesports if provided these sorts offacilities to the youth.

Later, Komatireddy VenkatReddy said that the UnionMinister responded in positive-

ly assuring that he will sanctionthe sports complex.Komatireddy said that the StateSports Minister V SrinivasGoud also assured to allocateland in this regard.

Jeevan Reddy demands TS toimplement loan waiver schemePNS n HYDERABAD

Congress senior leader andMLC T Jeevan Reddy onTuesday demanded the stategovernment to provide loansto the farmers from coopera-tive societies.

Questioning the state gov-ernment to tell as to when itwill implement the loan waiv-er scheme, Jeevan Reddydemanded the state govern-ment to allot funds in theupcoming Budget-2020 to theloan waiver scheme.

The TRS government ispassing the time blaming thecentre, Jeevan Reddy alleged.He asking the state govern-ment to provide loans to thefarmers by giving 6 per centsubsidy in interest as cooper-ative societies are collectinginterests similar to commercial

banks. Jeevan Reddy said thatCongress will celebrate ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao's birthday as 'Farmer'sDay' if the latter solves theproblems of the farmers.Jeevan Reddy also demandedthe state government to pro-vide beneficial price to theturmeric and red gram.

Deliver or quit: KCR to Mayors and civic chiefsContinued from Page 1

The conference discussed themodalities of the proposed 10-day Pattana Pragathi pro-gramme. The CM interactedwith Mayors, Chairpersons,Municipal Commissioners,Collectors and AdditionalCollectors, among other offi-cials. Ministers, Government'sChief Advisor Rajiv Sharma,Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar,DGP M Mahender Reddy,Principal Secretary (MA&UD)Arvind Kumar, MLAs, Mayors,Chairpersons, MunicipalCommissioners, Collectors and Additional Collectors participated in the conference.

The Chief Minister laid down the guidelines and unveiled a road map for Pattana Pragathil Prepare annual, five-yearward-wise plans, taking opinionsof people's committees.

l The rule of thumb is: Howshould a model town and citylook like? Remove garbage, cleandrainage every day, supply safedrinking water daily, ensureproper street lighting, ensureroads do not have potholes, andnurture greenery.

l Construct public toilets for theuse of local residents as well asfloating public. Utilizegovernment lands to construct

public toilets.

l Create zones in towns andcities for the benefit of streetvendors and ensure properinfrastructure there. Till then, donot trouble street vendors.

l Create parking places forautos, taxis, and public transportvehicles. The government willempower Collectors to utilizegovernment places for thepurpose.

l Remove twisted or rustingpoles and those that are in the

midst of roads. Removetransformers on footpaths.Rectify power lines hangingdangerously.

l Civic officials should takeresponsibility for growing plantsin towns and cities. They shouldensure 85 per cent survival of theplants.

l Distribute separate dustbins toeach household for disposing dryand wet garbage. Arrangeadequate number of vehicles totransport garbage from homes.The government has decided to

engage 3,100 vehicles all overthe State.

l Purchase and employmachines to clean drains.

l For urban local bodies, thegovernment will give Rs 148crore from the FinanceCommission funds per month.There should be financialdiscipline while spending thesefunds. Allocate 10 per cent of thefunds for greenery. MPs, MLAsand MLCs should spend theirconstituency development funds.

l Enhance public awareness onthe new Municipal Act. Thegovernment has brought in asystem to ensure easypermissions for the constructionof houses and sanction oflayouts. Strict action will be takenif someone gives falseinformation or indulges in illegalconstruction.l The government will soon betaking up a programme to makeTelangana State a totally literateState. Everyone should take upresponsibility for turningilliterates into literates.

Continued from Page 1

I don't think this is helpingR&D and I think this willdecelerate the investments inR&D."

Responding to this, Piyushsaid, "IT tax rates obviouslyencourage investments, but itis not just a factor for industryto flourish. Income tax andrates are always valuable andcertainly not the end of theroad and it's certainly anenabler.

Let's draw a larger line infront of the income tax rates,rather than struggling andremaining restricted around it.At the moment, there is anyintention to address, budget isalready out. We have to put ourheads together, to look at bet-ter enablers. It (tax) is likevalue-add for industries tocome in. But this governmentdoesn't focus on such smallthings, we focus on big things."

During the panel discussion,KTR tried to push the Ministerto make an announcement on

weighted average deductions.Piyush offered to hold a meet-ing with Pharma industryexperts in the second week ofMarch to understand theirconcerns. KTR said, "One ofthe things I believe that Indiahas to do, particularly fromindustry perspective is, wehave to operate and leverageeconomies of scale.Unfortunately, there doesn'tseem to be a policy on largeindustrial parks. Unless wecompete on scale, we manufac-ture on scale, I don't think wecan compete with China or thePhilippines or Cambodia whoseem to be leveraging theopportunity in China today."

Responding to this, Piyushsaid that the nation's demo-graphic dividend, rule of lawand justice is available, wherethere is domestic marketpotential which is huge andprovides economies of scale interms of market, in itself is avalue proposition, none ofthem can offer in this holisticmanner as India can.

Continued from Page 1

CCTV footage obtainedfrom a camera right below thecrash site showed visuals of thecar hurtling down the flyoverand crashing on the road. Thearea underneath the flyoverserves as a popular vegetablemarket, which, because of nightfall, had only a few workerswhen the mishap took place.

According to an auto driverwho lives nearby, the workersnarrowly escaped beingcrushed, as they started runningthe moment they heard a loudcrash when the car hit the fly-over's railing.

The car, registered in thename of a Gopal Goud L, hasunpaid challans from the year

2014 worth Rs 840. The SanathNagar Police have registered acase.

The crash site drew a hugenumber of curious passersbywho peeped from the top tocatch a glimpse of the crashedcar below, causing a trafficjam, with vehicles being stuckas far as two kilometres away.

In the previous incident, aspeeding car fell off the newlyinaugurated BiodiversityFlyover on November 23 lastyear, killing a woman and injur-ing four others underneath.

Although the RaidurgamPolice have concrete evidence ofover speeding by the driver ofthe car, the accused, identifiedas Kalvakuntla Krishna MilanRao, has not been arrested yet.

TRS-BJP politicalslugfest at railways...Continued from Page 1

They have given a fittingreply to the TRS governmentin the Lok Sabha elections bygiving us support in a big way.Four MPs have won. Bydefeating Chief Minister'sdaughter, people have given abefitting reply to the stategovernment to not differenti-ate, but implement all of theCenter's schemes."

Speaking on CAA, Piyushtermed the state cabinet as'unfortunate' to revert its deci-sion. He said, "His son andonly important minister of hisgovernment, KTR at a summiton news channel said theCentre and state have to worktogether, even I felt good. Iwant the state government totake back the baseless decision.

The state government, whichis trying to bring reservationbased on religion, has no rightto tell us how to functionabout dharma."

He alleged that theGovernment of Telangana hadbeen reduced to acting on theinstructions of AIMIM chiefOwaisi who was outrightlyindulging in religious politicsand hoped that wiser counselwould prevail in Telangana.

He said, "I feel sorry that theTelangana Cabinet met yester-day and passed resolution toabrogate CAA. I feel sad thatfor the sake of appeasement, astate government is opposingcentral government's law. Iurge the Government ofTelangana not to politicizethe issue on petty political andappeasement grounds.

Kin deputizingfor womensarpanchesirk HarishContinued from Page 1

He admonished the youthand asked him not to repeatthe mistake.

In another case, the father-in-law of a woman sarpanchattended the sammelan,instead of her, and related theproblems in the panchayat tothe minister. In fact, 15-20per cent of the womensarpanches were representedat the meeting by their nearand dear.

This also mirrors the factthat in 70-80 per cent of thevillages with 'Mahilasarpanches', their kin areexercising real authority, thusmisusing the reservationfacility.

TS Govt staff have to wait...Continued from Page 1

The committee was asked tosubmit its recommendationsin six months.

However, it did not materi-alise due to various reasons.

The early dissolution of TSLegislative Assembly inSeptember 2018, forcing earlyAssembly polls in December2018, followed by elections togram panchayats, Lok Sabha,zilla/ mandal parishads in2019 and the municipal pollsin February, coupled with theenforcement of Model Code ofConduct, are being cited by

government sources as reasonsfor delay in implementing thefirst PRC scales all these days.

However, as all electionshave been held in Telangana,employees and pensionerswere expecting the TRS gov-ernment to act swiftly at leastnow on first PRC.

The government orderextending the time for firstPRC to submit its recommen-dations till December 31, 2020comes as a shocker.

Ironically, KCR made astatement on November 10,2019, when TSRTC employees'indefinite strike was at its

peak, that the PRC reportwould be obtained within 10days.

The dwindling revenues ofthe state government partlydue to economic slowdownand cuts in central grants arebelieved to have forced thegovernment to delay imple-menting the first PRC scales.

Employees have beendemanding a 67 per cent fit-ment (hike) benefit, but Finance Department offi-cials are saying that due tofinancial crisis, the govern-ment is not in position to meettheir demand.

Continued from Page 1

In the latest in a series ofoverhauls since the 2008financial crisis, HSBC said itwould merge its private bank-ing and wealth businesses,axe European stock tradingand cut US retail branches asit seeks to remove $4.5 billionin costs. "The totality of thisprogram is that our head-count is likely to go from235,000 to closer to 200,000over the next three years,"Noel Quinn, interim chiefexecutive, told news agencyReuters.

The restructuring, one ofthe largest undertaken by ablue chip lender for morethan a decade, will be partlymanaged through naturalattrition as people leave thebank, he said.

The UK-based bank, who-se huge Asian operations areheadquartered in HongKong, said the coronavirusepidemic had significantlyimpacted staff and customers,Quinn said.

Piyush wants KTRto market India...

1 killed, 6 hurt as car...

Europe’sbiggest bankHSBC to cut...

Power demand peaks...Continued from Page 1

The consumption of powerunder GHMC limits last yearwas 1,807 MW, as against2130 MW recorded onFebruary 17 this year.

As the sun is shining brightfar ahead of the start of realsummer, the demand forpower has increased. Expertssuggest that the demand forpower might increase to13,000 MW mark by Marchthis year.

However, power officialssaid that, despite the increasein demand, there won't be any

necessity to impose powercuts this summer.

According to senior officialof TSSPDCL, the power util-ities are gearing up to meet anyamount of demand in summerand hence there are no plansto impose power cuts for anysector. The official said ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao had assured to help powerutilities by sanctioning addi-tional funds to purchase powerfrom the open market to meetthe increased demand anddirected officials to ensureuninterrupted power supplyacross the state.

Komatireddy urges Kiran Rijiju toconstruct sports complex at Bhongir

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 19, 2020 nation 05SHORT READS

Vice President to attendShivarathri celebratonsat Isha Yoga CentreCOIMBATORE: Vice President MVenkaiah Naidu will participatein the Mahashivarathricelebrations at Isha Yoga Centrenear here on February 21. Tightsecurity cover will be made inand around the city duringNaidu's visit, police said onTuesday. Naidu is expected toarrive in the city around noon onFriday and will head to IshaYoga Centre, some 25 km away,by helicopter as per the initialtravel plan. Security will betightened across the 25-kmstretch as Naidu is expected toreturn to the city by road in thenight and stay at Circuit House,police sources said. TheMahashivratri celebrations willcommence at 6 p.m and go ontill 6 a.m the next day, in front of112-feet tall Adiyogi statuewhere Isha Foundation founderSadhguru Jaggi Vasudev willjoin thousands of people fromall over the world.

Maha: Thane Mayorannounces crackdownon hawkers

Kejriwal meets LG Anil BaijalNEW DELHI: AAP ConvenorArvind Kejriwal on Tuesday metLt Governor Anil Baijal, a dayafter the Delhi chief ministerand his cabinet colleagues tookcharge of their respectiveoffices. An official said themeeting took place at the LGSecretariat. The meeting comesa day before the first cabinetmeeting of the new AAPgovernment.

THANE: Thane mayor NareshMhaske announced acrackdown on hawkers in thecity and directed the ThaneMunicipal Corporation to ensurethat roads and footpaths arehawker-free. Addressing a meetat the civic body in Maha'sThane city on Monday, he saidfootpaths and roads weremeant for citizens and theyshould be free at all times. "Iwant torid footpaths and roadsof hawkers for Thane citizens,"he said. "Even if hawkers'associations agitate against me,take out a morcha or burn myeffigy I don't care. I will ensurethat roads and footpaths arefree of hawkers," the mayorsaid. He directed the civicadministration to act on thematter immediately.

PNS n NEW DELHI

A Delhi court directed the CBIon Tuesday to hand over to PChidambaram and his sonKarti certain documents filedalong with the charge sheet inthe INX Media corruptioncase. Special Judge Ajay KumarKuhar issued the direction tothe CBI during the hearing inthe INX Media corruptioncase. The court was also hear-ing the money laundering caselodged by the EnforcementDirectorate.

The Chidambarams werepresent in the court.

Chidambaram was takeninto custody on August 21when he was arrested by theCentral Bureau of Investigation(CBI) in INX Media corrup-tion case.

On October 16, the EDarrested him in the separatemoney-laundering case.

Six days later, on October22, the apex court had grant-ed him bail in the case lodgedby the CBI.

On December 4, after 105

days of custody, Chidambaramwas granted bail by theSupreme Court in the moneylaundering case lodged by the ED.

Karti is also currently out onbail in both cases.

CBI had registered its caseon May 15, 2017, alleging

irregularities in a ForeignInvestment Promotion Boardclearance granted to INXMedia group for receivingoverseas funds of Rs 305 crorein 2007 during Chidambaram'stenure as finance minister.

Thereafter, ED had lodgedthe money laundering case.

INX MEDIA CASE

Court directs CBI to handover certain documents to PC

PNS n PATNA

Poll strategist-turned-politi-cian Prashant Kishor onTuesday mocked Bihar ChiefMinister NitishKumar foraligning with the BJP in hisquest for power, and said theJD(U) leader cannot be wed-ded to Gandhian ideals andstand with those who supportGodse at the same time.

Addressing a crowded pressconference here, the first sincehis expulsion from the JD(U),which Kumar heads, Kishorasserted that the chief minis-ter has been a "father figure" tohim even before he formallyjoined the party and so hewished to speak no ill of him.

Kishor, however, acknowl-edged that he had differenceswith Kumar over the contra-diction in his avowed commit-ment to the principles ofGandhi and his tie-up with theBJP, the party the poll strategistsought to identify with theMahatma's assassin NathuramGodse.

"Nitish ji has always said thathe cannot leave the ideals ofGandhi, JP and Lohia... At thesame time, how can he be withthe people who support theideology of Godse? Both can-not go together. If you want tostay with the BJP, I don't haveany problem with it but youcannot be on both sides,"Kishore said.

"There has been a lot of dis-

cussion between me and Nitishji on this. He has his thoughtprocess and I have mine. Therehave been differences betweenhim and me that the ideologiesof Godse and Gandhi cannotstand together. As the leader ofthe party you have to saywhich side you are on," headded.

He also said that unlike theJD(U) rank and file for whomthe chief minister's accom-plishments in governance hadbecome the "gold standard", hehad been candid enough topoint out that being a betterperformer than the past RJDgovernments will not sufficesince the state still laggedbehind most others in terms ofdevelopment.

Kishor, whose first claim to

fame was his handling ofNarendra Modi's prime minis-terial campaign of 2014,seemed to be still smartingunder Kumar's statement thathe was inducted into the JD(U)on the recommendation ofAmit Shah.

"My association with variouspolitical parties as a strategistis well known. I have neverkept it a secret. But I had notjoined the JD(U) as an agent ofsome other party. If speakinga lie makes things easier forNitish Kumar, then I grant thisto a man who is like a fatherfigure to me," he said.

Kishor said that in 2014,when Kumar had fought theLok Sabha polls alone afterhaving parted ways with theBJP and was drubbed, return-

ing with only two seats, "he wasstill the pride of Bihar".

"Compare that with the sit-uation today when a Gujaratileader from another party (anallusion to Shah) has to give theassurance that Kumar will bethe NDA leader in the assem-bly polls as if he was not theleader of the people of the statebut a manager of a firm,"Kishor said.

"Bihar cannot bear to see itsleader becoming a 'pichhlaggu'(piggybacking). Nitish Kumar,who had once famouslythwarted Narendra Modi fromcampaigning for the BJP inBihar, cut a sorry figure recent-ly when he spoke at rallies inDelhi assembly polls like amere sidekick while Shah andJ P Nadda were running theshow," he lamented.

Nitish ji has alwayssaid that he cannotleave the ideals of

Gandhi, JP and Lohia... At thesame time, how can he bewith the people who supportthe ideology of Godse? Bothcannot go together. If youwant to stay with the BJP, Idon't have any problem with itbut you cannot be on bothsides

— PRASHANT KISHORPoll strategist-turned-politician

Which side are you on - Godseor Gandhi?: Kishor to Nitish

Special Judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar issued thedirection to the CBI during the hearing in theINX Media corruption case. The court wasalso hearing the money laundering caselodged by the Enforcement Directorate

Delhi court sendsSharjeel to judicialcustody till March 3PNS n NEW DELHI

A Delhi court Tuesday sentSharjeel Imam, named as an"instigator" by Delhi Police inits charge sheet on violentprotests against theCitizenship Amendment Act(CAA) at New Friends Colonyhere last year, to judicial cus-tody till March 3.

Imam was arrested on sedi-tion charges last month in aseparate case.

The police has filed thecharge sheet before ChiefMetropolitan MagistrateGurmohina Kaur, namingImam as an instigator of theviolence.

It said it has attached CCTVfootage, call detail recordsand statements of over 100witnesses as evidence in thecharge sheet.

The court had on Mondaysent Imam to one-day custodyof Delhi Police in the case asit wanted to quiz him becausean accused - Furkan - in theDecember 15, 2019 violencecase has alleged in his disclo-sure statement that he wasprovoked by Imam's speeches.

The police had earlier toldthe court that Furkan wasarrested on the basis of aCCTV footage which showedhim carrying a containerallegedly containing petrol.

Four people were arrested inthe case on December 16 andsent to judicial custody.Furkan was arrested later.

Imam, who came into thelimelight during the ongoingprotests at Shaheen Bagh hereagainst the CAA and theNational Register of Citizens,was arrested from Bihar'sJehanabad on January 28 in aseparate case for allegedlymaking inflammatory speech-es at the Jamia Millia IslamiaUniversity here and in Aligarh.

A case had been registeredagainst him on sedition andother charges on January 26.

BJP appointsobserver toselect leader ofLegislative partyPNS n NEW DELHI

The BJP has appointed itsnational general secretarySaroj Pandey as observer forselecting the leader of itsLegistlative party in the DelhiAssembly, a party statementsaid on Tuesday.

It also appointed its nation-al general secretary PMuralidhar Rao as an observ-er for selecting the leader ofits Legistlative party in theJharkhand Assembly.

The appointments weremade with the approval of theparty President JP Nadda, thestatement said.

The AAP bagged 62 of the70 assembly seats in the justconcluded polls in Delhi.

The police has filedthe charge sheetbefore ChiefMetropolitanMagistrateGurmohina Kaur,naming Imam as aninstigator of theviolence

Guj: Satellitephone foundon islandPNS n BHUJ

A local fisherman allegedlyrecovered a satellite phone onan island near Kandla port inGujarat's Kutch district, anofficial said on Tuesday.

The police has launched aprobe into the recovery of theInmarsat satellite phone,which was found on Paparvaisland, superintendent ofpolice (Kutch-East)Parikshita Rathod said.

The fisherman on Mondayapproached the police withthe satellite phone, which hemistook for a mobile phone,when he found it on theisland near jetty number 10of the Kandla port onFebruary 3, she said.

"While the island is unin-habited, local fishermen gothere to dry their catch,"Rathod said.

He took the phone to alocal mobile shop to buy aSIM card on Monday andwas informed that it wasn't aregular cellphone, the officialsaid. As per preliminaryinvestigation, the satellitephone is not active and callrecord details will be extract-ed soon based on the IMEInumber, she added.

PNS nMUMBAI

Former Mumbai police com-missioner Rakesh Maria hasclaimed his successor AhmadJaved knew Sheena Bora mur-der case accused Indrani andPeter Mukerjea socially, andthat Peter also knew the thenJoint Commissioner of Police(law and order) Deven Bharti on"first name terms".

Maria, who investigated somehigh-profile cases like the 1993Mumbai serial blasts and alsoheaded probe in the 26/11Mumbai terror attack, madethe revelation in his memoir 'LetMe Say It Now' released onMonday.

Bharti, now MaharashtraAnti-Terrorism Squad (ATS)

chief, rejected the claim, sayingit appears to be a marketingstrategy for the book whichattempts to grab more eyeballsrather than place facts.

Peter Mukerjea was arrested

on November 19, 2015 in theSheena Bora murder case, inwhich his former wife IndraniMukerjea is the main accused.

Sheena Bora, 24, was IndraniMukerjea's daughter from an

earlier relationship. The killingcame to light in 2015 whenIndrani Mukerjea's driverShyamwar Rai, who had helpedthem dispose of the body, wasarrested in another case.

Rai later turned an approverin the case. As per Maria'sbook, Peter Mukerjea knewDeven Bharti "on first nameterms". Maria has also writtenthat Javed also knew theMukerjeas socially, adding they

were invitees to the latter's Eidparty. According to excerptsfrom the memoir, during inter-rogation in the murder case,Peter Mukerjea told Maria thathe had approached DevenBharti in 2012 to complainabout Sheena Bora going miss-ing. The book mentions thatwhen Maria asked PeterMukerjea about "doing nothing"when he found out aboutSheena's sudden disappearance,

he replied, "Sir, I had toldDeven!"

Recalling Mukerjea's interro-gation, Maria said, "That nightI couldn't sleep a wink. Thethought uppermost in my mindwas to find out the exact mean-ing of what Peter had told me inthe evening."

"It meant that Peter Mukerjeaknew Deven Bharti on firstname terms. And I had notknown this all these days.Moreover, Deven Bharti had notthought it fit to tell me even oncethat the Mukerjeas were close tohim," he says in the book. Mariaclaimed that whenever he woulddiscuss with Bharti the mysteryof non-registration of missingcomplaint or accidental deathreport, he would keep silent.

Maria claims top cops knew Sheena Bora case accused socially

PNS n MUMBAI

NCP chief Sharad Pawar onTuesday claimed that the pre-vious Devendra Fadnavis-ledgovernment in Maharashtrahad misused police machin-ery in the Elgar Parishadcase.

The former Union ministeralso said the Elgar Parishadcase and the case of violenceat Koregaon-Bhima in Punedistrict on January 1, 2018,were two completely differentcases.

Talking to reporters here,Pawar said the Fadnavis-ledBJP government and the Punepolice "misused" their powerin Elgar Parishad case.

He demanded that an SITbe appointed to probe theconduct of Pune police andthe misuse of power by theFadnavis-led government.

The Centre transferred thecase from the state to theNational InvestigationAgency (NIA) fearing that thetruth would be out, Pawarsaid.

The activists in the ElgarParishad case could betermed as aggressive but notanti-nationals, he said.

The violence at Koregaon-Bhima was the result of a "dif-ferent atmosphere" createdby Hindutva actvists MilindEkbote and Sambhaji Bhide,he said. Cases were also reg-istered by Pune police againstthose who were neitherinvolved with Elgar Parishadnor the Koregaon-Bhima vio-lence, he said.

The matter relates toalleged inflammatory speech-es delivered at the ElgarParishad conclave, held atShaniwarwada in Pune onDecember 31, 2017, whichthe police claimed, triggeredviolence near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial in the

district the next day.The Pune Police have

claimed the conclave wasbacked by Maoists.

During the probe, the Punepolice arrested Left- leaningactivists Sudhir Dhawale,Rona Wilson, SurendraGadling, Mahesh Raut,Shoma Sen, Arun Ferreira,Vernon Gonsalves, SudhaBharadwaj and Varavara Raofor alleged Maoist links. Theyhave been booked under rel-evant sections of the IPC andanti-terror law UAPA.

The Pune court hearingthe Elgar Parishad case hastransferred it to the specialNIA court in Mumbai.

Fadnavis govt misued policein Elgar Parishad case: Pawar

The former Unionminister also saidthe Elgar Parishadcase and the caseof violence atKoregaon-Bhima inPune district onJanuary 1, 2018,were 2completelydifferent cases

PNS n BHOPAL

Madhya Pradesh ChiefMinister Kamal Nath onTuesday denied being angrywith Congress general secre-tary Jyotiraditya Scindia, wholast week threatened to hit thestreets against the state govern-ment over non- fulfillment ofpromises made in the pollmanifesto.

“When I have never beenangry with (former chief min-ister and BJP national vicepresident) Shivraj SinghChouhan, how come I can bewith Scindia," Nath told

reporters here on thesidelines of a pro-gramme, whenasked about hisparty colleague.

While mention-ing Chouhan, he wasapparently referring tothe frequent criticismof the state Congressgovernment by thesenior BJP leader.

At a public rallyin Tikamgarh lastThursday, Scindiathreatened that hewould hit the streets ifpromises made in the

Congress' manifestobefore the 2018Madhya Pradeshpolls and demandsof guest teachers inthe state are not ful-

filled.Responding to it,

Nath on Saturday said,"Toh woh utar jaaye(let him do so)."

Later on Sunday,Scindia reiteratedhe is a public ser-

vant and will hit thestreets if promises

made in the poll mani-festo are not fulfilled, but also

said there is a need to bepatient with the Kamal Nathgovernment as it has complet-ed only a year.

Scindia was one of the front-runners for the post of MadhyaPradesh chief minister after theCongress defeated the BJP inthe Assembly polls held inDecember 2018.

The Congress, however,decided to go with seniorleader Kamal Nath, leavingseveral in the Scindia campunhappy.

Scindia later lost the LokSabha polls last year fromhome turf Guna.

Kamal Nath denies being angry with Scindia

According to excerpts from the memoir,during interrogation in the murder case, PeterMukerjea told Maria that he had approachedDeven Bharti in 2012 to complain aboutSheena Bora going missing

PNS n CHENNAI

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister KPalaniswami on Tuesdayaccused the DMK of deceivingthe people over the CAA anddared it to explain "whichminority" community hasbeen affected by the law in thestate. Making an interventionin the state assembly when aDMK member batted for aHouse resolution opposingthe Citizenship (Amendment)Act, he slammed the principalopposition party and said itwas deceiving the people onthe issue. The assembly, debating the2020-21 budget, witnessedexchanges over the controver-sial law even as protests byMuslims against it continuedfor the fifth day at OldWashermanpet here.

Speaking on the budget,DMK MLA T ManoThangaraj favoured an anti-CAA resolution in the House.

Intervening, Palaniswami,who had been maintainingthat the government will notallow anything that may affectthe minorities, sought to turnthe tables on the DMK andasked it to give details aboutthose affected by the citizen-ship act. "Which minority isaffected in Tamil Nadu? Weare not acting (deceiving) like

you (DMK)," he said. WhenThangaraj, defended his posi-tion and pointed to resolutionsagainst the CAA in somestates, the Chief Minister saidthe law related to Citizenshipcame under the domain of theCentral government and notthe state. IUML memberKAM Muhammed Abubackertoo spoke and pointed to apprehensions vis-a-vis theCAA.

TN CM accuses DMK of deceivingpeople over CAA

Won't hand over Koregaon-Bhima probe to Centre: UddhavPNS nMUMBAI

Maharashtra Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray on Tuesdaysaid his government willnot hand overprobe in theKoregaon-Bhimaviolence case to theCentre. The violencewas a result of thealleged inflammatoryspeeches delivered at theElgar Parishad conclave atShaniwarwada in Pune onDecember 31, 2017.The Maharashtra government

had recently okayed the hand-ing over of investigation into theElgar Parishad case to the

National InvestigationAgency (NIA).

"Elgar andKoregaon-Bhimaare two separatetopics. The issuefacing my Dalitbrothers is about

Koregaon-Bhimaand I will not give it to

the Centre. I want to makeit clear that there will be noinjustice to Dalit brothers,"Thackeray tweeted.

Making an interventionin the state Assemblywhen a DMK memberbatted for a Houseresolution opposing theCAA, he slammed theprincipal oppositionparty and said it wasdeceiving people on the issue

One of the keys to improvingCentre-State relations andensuring development is even-handed and judicious distrib-ution of tax revenue and other

forms of earning between the federal andState Governments. The FinanceCommission of India is a unique consti-tutional body that is periodically set upunder Article 280 of the Constitution todefine financial relations between theCentral and State Governments. It laysdown a set of principles that determines themethod and formula for the distributionof tax proceeds between bothGovernments.

A majority of the taxes such asCustoms duty, income tax, service tax andCentral excise are collected by the Centre.States were given the mandate to provideeconomic and social services to the peo-ple. They are empowered to levy incometax on agricultural earnings, professionaltax, value added tax (VAT), State exciseduty, land revenue and stamp duty. Hence,the Finance Commission was created toaddress issues of vertical and horizontalimbalances of federal finances in India.

The 15th Finance Commission, whichwas established to decide on the devolu-tion of taxes and other receipts to theCentre and States for the next five yearsbeginning April 2020, submitted its recom-mendations before the CentralGovernment last December. TheCommission used the population data of2011 while making its recommendationsand for the first time, in addition to incomedistance, population and area and forestcover, it used two additional factors —demographic performance and tax effort— to determine the tax pool of States.

The Commisson’s usage of the 2011population figures gave rise to considerablecontroversies. While the 14th FinanceCommission had taken the 1971 census asthe base with a weightage of 17.5 per centand assigned a weightage of 10 per cent tothe 2011 population figures, the present onehas kept the weightage of 2011 populationat 15 per cent and has given additional 12.5per cent to demographic performance. Theuse of 2011 data has benefitted some Stateslike Uttar Pradesh and Bihar while othershave been disadvantaged.

Most States in southern India, exceptTamil Nadu, feel that they are sufferingbecause of their policy of population con-trol. They believe they will get a smallershare of the pie if the population dispen-sation is applied. However, according to theEconomic Survey, 2016, inter-State labourmobility averaged 5-6.5 million peoplebetween 2001 and 2011, yielding an inter-State migrant population of about 60 mil-lion and an inter-district migration as highas 80 million. Apart from the southernStates, Assam, Goa, Himachal Pradesh,Odisha, Punjab and West Bengal, too, saw

a dip in population comparedto the 1971 census. The 15thFinance Commission was crit-ical of the Union and StateGovernments’ tendency tofinance spending through off-budget borrowings, too. Onthis front, it called upon both tophase out off-budget liabilities.

Irrespective of the sur-rounding controversies, theCommission made it clearthat it wants to play a key rolein fostering sustainable devel-opment. It must be noted thatthe 14th Commission hadaccepted it as a criterion todetermine the share of taxes tovarious States. This is why“forest cover” was assigned7.5 per cent weightage. The15th Finance Commissionsought to raise the area coverto 10 per cent in order toreward States that have “pro-vided ecological services” tothe country.

However, it is distressingthat none of the States has beenliberal in granting funds to theforest department commen-surate to the contribution theforests have made in gettingfunds. The enhancement offunds to States — from 7.5 percent to 10 per cent — if imple-mented, can go a long way inprotecting the country’s ecolog-ical frontiers. This can also lead

to the economic well-being ofthe people and the country andhelp consolidate forestresources as well.

The importance of themaintenance of forest-likebuildings and roads was firstrecognised by the 13th FinanceCommission, which earmarked`1,000 crore and called uponthe States to manage ecology,environment and climatechange, consistent with sustain-able development. This fundwas kept at the disposal of theGovernment of India and wasreleased to States on a projectbasis. This helped a great dealin maintaining forests acrossthe country.

However, the actualspending on forests by States,after the 14th FinanceCommission grants, has notbeen very encouraging whencompared to the intention ofthe criterion to strengthenforest cover base. The State ofForest Report 2019 released bythe Forest Survey of Indiarecorded a marginal increaseof 5,188 sq km in total forestand tree cover in the country.However, it gave a dismalpicture in tribal areas (wherethe forest cover has gonedown by 741 sq km). Withregard to the disappearance ofhigher girth class trees in

forests due to poor regenera-tion and protection, thereport, if examined critically,indicates the urgent need tospend money on naturalforests. Yet another importantissue that needs to be dealtwith is to address the concernof States, which have less for-est cover. We need to step upefforts to cover more areasthrough agroforestry, farmforestry, block plantations,urban and peri-urban forestryamong other efforts.

Efficient fiscal manage-ment goals of the Commissioncannot be achieved unless wehave an effective monitoringsystem in place. The 15thFinance Commission shouldfollow the pattern of the 13thFinance Commission, whichrecommend inter alia that aportion of the divisible pool oftax within the forest criterionshould be retained with theGovernment of India to besanctioned by the Ministry ofFinance and Environment,Forest and Climate Change, forthe maintenance of forests.

It would be appropriate toensure third-party monitoringof the use of the grant toStates so that misuse or arbi-trary or unauthorised use ofthe funds can be checked.Further, for monitoring and

evaluation of the works under-taken through the FinanceCommission Awards, Statesshould opt for certification offorests. This can help promotesustainable forest managementand at the same time providespace for international marketsfor procurement of forestproducts.

Further, the Commissionshould put a complete ban onthe freebie culture of politicians,who are more interested invotebank politics. If need be, itmust ask the Government toamend the Constitution. ThePrime Minister must thinkabout curbing the freebie cul-ture sooner than later. At thesame time, the ElectionCommission must ensure polit-ical consensus on this. A groupof retired forest officers hadsought time from the Chairmanof the Finance Commission tosubmit a memorandum onthese issues so that theCommission’s own recommen-dations lead to desired effectson the country’s economy andon conservation of forests,water and bio-diversity. A for-est governance policy must payattention to the multiple waysin which our green cover isvaluable.

(The writer is a retired civil servant)

The discovery of an estimated reserve of14,000 tonnes of lithium ore in Mandya,100 km from Bengaluru, has gotten sev-

eral people excited. Rightly so, because thismetal is one of the key components for Lithium-Ion batteries and is a crucial building block forelectric vehicles, which many believe, will bethe future of India, indeed for global mobility.But there’s no need to get overly excited aboutthis. In terms of reserves, it is less than halfa per cent of the total deposits found in Chile,which along with Bolivia, holds some of the

world’s largest stocks of this key material. By some estimates, India will needover a million tonnes of lithium ore in the next two decades to ensure half itsvehicle fleet is able to drive on electric vehicle battery. So, 14,000 tonnes of lithi-um ore cannot even power the electric vehicles that will be needed in Bengaluruand its suburbs alone. This discovery should, however, be used as an opportu-nity to further mineral exploration. Low on reserves, we have to import miner-als and metals worth billions of dollars — crude oil to gold — from nations acrossthe world. We have to become more pro-active in tapping deposits and max-imising their potential. This small finding should spur Indian companies and theGovernment to look for other key resources for the future like rare-earth metals— a sector where China commands a near-global monopoly.

India should also carefully evaluate technologies that can be used to powerthe future. In mobility, this could involve discussions around hydrogen-based fuel-cell technologies that are less dependent on lithium resources. While hydrogenextraction technologies are currently expensive and energy negative, the dramat-ic lowering of unit costs of solar and wind energy can allow for sufficient hydro-gen generation, which can also use the existing fuel-retail system. India shouldnot become beholden to another set of resource-rich countries. Policy-makershave to be extremely careful about which path the country will take. They mustnot give in to half-baked ideas by motivated parties. Our bureaucrats and politi-cians must be very careful and make serious considerations about India’s futurebecause their decisions will decide which path the country will take and the impactit will have in the next five or six decades. We cannot afford to lose more decadesas we have already wasted the first two this millennium.

In the end, the executive abdicated its respon-sibility and left it to the judiciary to tackle civilunrest in the country that has risen in oppo-

sition to its new profile-linked citizenship law.And the highest court of the land, theSupreme Court, had to intervene to settle theissue of moving protesters at Shaheen Bagh,the epicentre of a relentless people’s struggleagainst a law that violates the Constitutionalspirit of equality of all religions. Addressing aclutch of petitions against the protesters thatwere pushed in a surrogate manner, the court

did not denounce their stance and upheld what it has before, that citizens havea democratic right to disagree and be heard. But considering the sit-in on a pub-lic road had stretched to over two months and was obstructing traffic and pub-lic convenience, the court said that the protest site should be relocated to averta crisis. Yet it did not pare the protesters down with dictated choices of sites butsent in mediators to work out a deal. The Shaheen Bagh women, who have neverrefused a dialogue, had gone public with their desire to meet the Home Ministerand Prime Minister, but it was the Government which did not honour the rulesof civil engagement and instead demonised them as enemies of the State. Hadit indeed mastered statecraft, it could have made a virtue of the negotiations,used them for explanatory propaganda on the new law and avoided a confla-gration that ultimately burnt it badly. Now as many Shaheen Baghs and dissentmovements have erupted across the country, will the Government squander awayits political mandate as an administrator or create new binaries for electoral pol-itics? Will it be a reconciler of diversity or just the interpreter of societal maladies?

There is nothing wrong with the BJP Government justifying its ideologicalpitch but when in governance, it cannot be seen as abetting a civil war. Particularlywhen the women-led protest at Shaheen Bagh swiftly turned into civil society’sspontaneous combustion and powered the Opposition. Primarily because thewomen of Shaheen Bagh had taken a high moral ground when they started out,reading the Preamble and positing themselves as citizens who shouldn’t be definedby exclusion as opposed to the establishment’s determination to brand them anti-Hindu. As all religions made common cause with them, the BJP turned theminto a test case of nationalism, lionising them with its intolerance. So what beganas an anti-establishment forum was needlessly elevated to a referendum on whetherminority intrusion can disrupt a majority lives — in this case, blockade-hit Delhiites— on whether there was a mini-Pakistan that needs to be surgically cut out fromthe heart of the city. Clearly, the BJP is solely responsible for terming every demo-cratic disagreement as a treacherous feat, even making its core voter deeply uncom-fortable. Yes, the women blocked traffic because that’s the only way they couldmake people sit up but it was the BJP which gave shelf life to the sit-in, prolong-ing it for intended political gains, adamant in rejecting overtures and scoring aself-goal by weaponising it for the Delhi Assembly elections. Even the womenpointed out that their protest was not a civic issue but a national one and, there-fore, were unconcerned about the buzz around them. The Delhi voter, in the end,chose a “doing” Government rather than a “blaming” one. Had the BJP beensmart, it could have attempted reconciliation talks. Considering the city-state’slaw and order is a Central subject, it could have worked around the traffic mess.By engaging with the women, it would have not only demonstrated seriousnessof intent, it could have been seen as an expert negotiator, one who attempted toclear misconceptions around the CAA. Clearly, the Government’s mishandlingof Shaheen Bagh has blown up in its face and compelled it to eat humble pie.The Prime Minister had to clarify that CAA “does not affect Indian Muslims” andthat there was no talk of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) yet. Home MinisterAmit Shah had to simmer down on NRC after declaring in Parliament that everyinfiltrator would be thrown out and even admit that aggressive and polarising rhetorichad cost the BJP the Delhi election. It’s a different matter though that the NationalPopulation Register (NPR) can be used to harvest profile-based data still, some-thing that the civil protest movements are now questioning, too. This has forcedthe Government to concede that respondents wouldn’t be needed to show anypapers. It is in this sense that the Shaheen Bagh protests have been successfulcompared to other protests before; they have forced a systemic reaction. Andwith mini protests acquiring gale force, the Modi Government can no longer affordto be in a victim or petitioner mode. It cannot be a denier anymore, it has to seizethe discourse. Or be horribly out of sync with what India wants.

Together, we can

Sir — The forthcoming visit ofDonald Trump to India is uniquenot only because this will be hisfirst since he became the USPresident but also because it comessoon after his acquittal in theimpeachment trial by the USSenate. Besides, he is also one of thefrontrunners for the US electionslater this year and enjoys record-high popularity back home.

Relations between the USand India have seen an upswingin recent years. The US consid-ers India a key player in the Indo-Pacific region. Bilateral trade,both goods and services, touched$142 billion in 2018. But there’sa lot that is left to be desired andworked on.

Importantly, Trump consid-ers India to be among thosenations taking trade advantage ofthe US. Since long, America hasbeen averse to India’s intellectu-al policy legal framework andsome investment restrictions.India, on the other hand, believesthat under Trump’s presidency,the US has taken a more rigidstance; new tariffs have beenintroduced for new products.

But both nations have a com-

mon agenda too: To challenge arising and aggressive China andcreate a new rules-based order inEast Asia. Challenges faced byboth are entirely different innature and it’s difficult to findcommon ground. Yet, bothnations must unite and plan the

way forward strategically. A “minitrade” deal may not help iron outdifferences but is of utmostimportance for India, given itseconomy is in the midst of a slowdown at the moment.

Ganapathi BhatAkola

Better late than never

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Lead from the front” (February18). The Supreme Court’s ruling,asking the Government to ensurethat all women officers are given

permanent commission besidesmaking them eligible for com-mand posting at par with maleofficers, is historic.

It’s shocking that despite theArmy facing shortage of officersin support services, it let go oftrained women officers. Timeand again women have provedtheir mettle in all spheres. Theyare not in any way inferior to malecounterparts. It’s about time thatwe realise and acknowledge theircontribution wholeheartedly andgive them their due respect.

Bal GovindNoida

Shameful incident

Sir — It is shameful that more than60 girl students were forced to stripin an administrative check aboutwhether they were menstruatingor not at a college in Gujarat’s Bhuj.The Government needs to keep acheck on the norms laid downand take action against them.There should be uniformity in pol-icy and rules.

ShashiVia email

P A P E R W I T H P A S S I O N

www.dailypioneer.comfacebook.com/dailypioneer | @TheDailyPioneer | instagram.com/dailypioneer/

op nionHYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 19, 2020

06

Now, a green fund

VK BAHUGUNA

The Finance Commission must be lauded for including forest cover in the mix for allocationof tax resources. States must respect this and do their bit in conserving it

Nitishji has always said that hecannot leave the ideals ofGandhi, JP and Lohia... At the same time, how can he be with the people who support the ideology of Godse?

Political strategist—Prashant Kishor

I was also a newcomer at onepoint of time, I'm only fouryears old here. I am no veteran. Every film is a newfilm. I am as new as the direc-tor for that film and story.

Actor—Vicky Kaushal

Using funds of peacekeepingoperations for other requirements,while payments for peacekeepingremain, is not only bad accounting practice but also tendsto be interpreted as bad faith.

Indian Envoy—Syed Akbaruddin

S O U N D B I T E

L E T T E R S T O TT H E E D I T O R

Wall to hide misdeeds and guilt

The construction of a wall in front of a slum alongthe road connecting Sardar Vallabhbhai PatelInternational Airport to the Indira Bridge in

Ahmedabad ahead of US President Donald Trump’sstate visit has rightly drawn a lot of flak. This illus-trates that BJP-led Governments at the Centre and inGujarat refuse to accept the nation as it is. This act isclearly at odds with their claims of “patriotism” and“commitment” towards the impoverished sections ofthe country. The Government is clearly not above con-juring a false narrative to provide an impression of“national glory.” It seems that the wall is being con-structed to prevent Trump’s convoy from viewing theslums, which the American visitors would presumablyconsider “eyesores.” But they should remember thatslum dwellers are victims of an unjust and inequitablesocial order. Apart from the deprivation they alreadyhave to live with, it is inhuman to render them “invis-ible” in this humiliating manner.

It would be reasonable to ask why money wasspent on a “beautification drive” rather than onimproving the living conditions of the slum dwellers.The veneer of prosperity created to impress a world

leader dehumanises millions of poverty-strickenIndians, who are unlikely to be represented at the“Namaste, President Trump” event in Ahmedabad. Oneis reminded of Rabindranath Tagore’s words, “Give methe strength never to disown the poor or bend myknees before the insolent might.” Those in power woulddo well to live by them.

G David MiltonMaruthancode

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Too little to chargeIf NRC is implemented, it willaffect not only Hindus orMuslims but also Adivasis.NPR is a census, and I don'tfind anyone will be affectedas it happens every 10 years.

Maharashtra CM —Uddhav Thackeray

SC appoints mediators for shifting women-led protests onthe CAA. Should the Govt not have done this instead?

Let’s not get excited by the discovery of lithium reserves.They are not enough to fuel India’s electric ambitions

Message of Shaheen Bagh

Use AI to fight pandemics

THE CONGRESS PARTY ALWAYS CHOOSES TO STANDWITH THOSE WHO ARE INIMICAL TO THE COUNTRY

AND RILE UP SECURITY FORCES.—BJP SPOKESPERSON

GVL NARASIMHA RAO

WHEN POLICEMEN HIDE THE TRUTH, THERE’S NODIALOGUE WITH THE YOUTH AND GOVT BECOMES ASLEUTH, DEMOCRACY WILL WEAKEN AT ITS ROOTS.—CONGRESS LEADERKAPIL SIBAL

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

In 2019, the Global Preparedness MonitoringBoard said that the world was not prepared forthe next big pandemic, which could potentially

spread between continents in 36 hours and kill upto 80 million people. It pointed out that the climatecrisis, global migration and humanitarian conflictswere all breeding grounds for newer outbreaks. TheCoronavirus took us by surprise, simultaneouslypointing out that systems of the past decade mightnot be effective in tackling challenges that are tak-ing novel shapes and forms. With one of the largestpopulations and widening socio-economic divides,India is vulnerable to contagions. Experts claim thatthis susceptibility hasn’t changed much in the last100 years, when India was one of the countries worsthit by the Spanish Influenza in 1918. We have beenstruggling to contain influenza and encephalitis out-breaks for the last four decades. There is a pressingneed to overhaul how we respond to outbreaks, bothglobally and in India, keeping technology at the cen-tre. Coronavirus’ example itself shows that it was twoArtificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled enterprises,BlueDot and Metabiota, that provided the key andlife-saving insights into the containment of this viraleruption. By using Natural Language Processing(NLP), BlueDot sifts through and analyses over10,000 articles in 65 languages, including foreignnews reports, plants and animal disease networksand official proclamations, to issue warnings. It wasable to catch and warn about the impending out-break days before the official announcement wasmade. Similarly, Metabiota applied AI to the usedtravel itineraries and flight patterns to determine thelikely spread of the disease. It was accurate insofaras it predicted that South Korea, Japan, Taiwan andThailand had the highest risk of the viral outbreak.

AI for comprehensive disease surveillance: Asepidemics spread in phases from introduction toamplification and finally contained transmission, theresponse and sequence of interventions flow accord-ingly. Even before diseases erupt, a public health sys-tem attempts to anticipate new and re-emerging dis-ease through early detection. Thereafter, the responsestrategy changes to containment, control and mit-igation, followed by re-focus on eradication. Creatinga technology-based intervention into pandemic man-agement also needs to consider the response strate-gies commensurate with the stage of epidemical evo-lution.

However, technologies have a critical and moresuccessful role to play in some phases of the responsecycle as opposed to others. One such is predictionand early warnings, for which integrated disease sur-veillance programmes exist both in the public andprivate sectors. These surveillance strategies includeEvent-Based Surveillance (EBS) and Risk Modelling.EBS systems use unstructured data from multiplesources like internet, official reports, social mediaand so on, to detect and trace the evidence of anemerging threat and overlay it with traditional sur-veillance systems to issue public health warnings andformulate mitigation strategies. The Global PublicHealth Intelligence Network (GPHIN), andHealthMap, an automated electronic informationsystem, are EBS tools that use NLP, text processingalgorithms and Machine Learning (ML). These canincrease the speed of identifying signs, filtering infor-mation, enhance capacity for consuming informa-tion and increase accuracy manifold.

The Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases(ProMED), Medical Information System (MedISys)and Pattern-based Understanding and LearningSystem (PULS) are similar EBS tools. These systemsare proving absolutely essential in disseminatinginformation at breakneck speed, characterising trans-missibility patterns, contagiousness, illnesses and

deaths caused by the pathogen, aidingquicker emergency response. Risk mod-elling uses statistical tools to characteriseand identify factors in populations or indi-viduals that enhance their vulnerabilitiesto contracting a particular disease.Overlaying this data with open sourceinternet data and climate data accountingfor presence, distribution and movementof pathogens can help identify correlationsthat were invisible to us before. Forexample, in China, the cases of hand, footand mouth disease in children were bestpredicted by AI models that utilised dataon weekly temperature and precipitationas well as data on disease-related queriesfrom the Chinese Baidu search engine.

Compared to these, India’s IntegratedDisease Surveillance Programme (IDSP)uses manual surveillance, where data onsome 24 epidemic-prone diseases is col-lected on a weekly basis at the primaryhealth centre level and reported upwards.Whenever there is a rising trend of illness-es in any area, it is investigated by theRapid Response Teams (RRT) to diagnoseand control the outbreak. This system isslow and doesn’t use any risk modellingfor predictions. A study by the IndianInstitute of Public Health, Hyderabad in2016 pointed out that this procedure suf-fered a time lag from anything betweenthree to 64 days.

The Media Scanning and VerificationCell of the IDSP was established in 2008for early warning signals through mediareports. However, this activity is limitedto manually scanning newspapers/elec-tronic media. Some technologically-adeptStates use Google alerts to automate theprocess. Needless to say, State media ver-ification cells are unable to exhaustivelyscan all media sources with the swiftnessthat’s needed to respond to outbreaks. TheHealth Ministry is piloting an IntegratedHealth Information Platform (IHIP) thatcan enable near real-time data reportingand hopes to apply modelling and GIStools to enhance the IDSP. There existsimmense scope for integrating emergingtechnologies within the IHIP platform. But

at present these discussions are nascent. Focussing on holistic pandemic

management: While most technologyapplications in pandemic response are lim-ited to surveillance, there is a dire need toidentify intervention areas in overall pan-demic management. AI can not only helpus predict where the disease might be trav-elling to, but it can also offer insights intohow people take up health services dur-ing emergencies. Accounting for health-seeking behaviours in designing responsestrategies can substantially boost effective-ness and success of responses.

Learning from behavioural data, MLmodels can identify less obvious patternsin human behaviour and disease transmis-sion, which could enable a targettedresponse. This is called infodemiology,where you can integrate internet data intopublic health informatics to examineindividual health-seeking patterns duringemergencies. Google Trends Data as wellas more-specific Google Dengue Trendshave also been used by researchers todevelop a holistic understanding of behav-ioural aspects of citizen response to pan-demics. Such insights can be used to deter-mine where health services are imperativeto be delivered in times of shortages thatmandate trade-offs. In a more mature sys-tem, one would also be able to determineif an individual or a group of people is like-ly to change its location, go out and seekformal assistance, or if they will adhere totreatment routines — all insights that canhelp authorities make better decisions.

AI-assisted genomics research isslowly emerging to be a game changer inthe rapid development of treatments andvaccines for contemporary infections.Baidu has developed an algorithm that cansignificantly speed up RNA structure pre-diction and subsequently unlock the keyto the virus. Developing models that canmatch patterns embedded in the viralgenomes to their animal host and vectorsthat carry the virus can be a breakthroughin narrowing the search for diseases. Thiscan lead to early interventions in control-ling disease upsurge or preventing their

emergence altogether. Building blocks for AI in pandem-

ic response: Building a comprehensiveand accurate surveillance system requiresmassive amounts of quality data from dif-ferent sources. Meteorological data, forinstance, needs to be overlaid with vector-movements and population mobility datato accurately identify hotspots for out-breaks. This requires Government depart-ments coming together in mission-modeand pooling their data into one consoli-dated programme. It also requires AI-enabled technologies to be integrated intoexisting workflows for pandemic manage-ment and creation of new protocols withadequate capacity-building, so its benefitscan flow to all levels.

As pandemics are not constrained bynational boundaries, a global surveillancesystem is imperative, something wheremultilaterals like the WHO and interna-tional foundations can play a catalytic role.Nations need to be propelled to make dis-ease information public and if possiblemove towards interoperable surveillancenetworks that can communicate with theirglobal counterparts.

Can AI fight the next Coronavirus isa question up for debate. But it can bol-ster our capacity to respond substantial-ly, especially in disease pre-emption,design of accurate interventions and insome cases with more research investment,even prevention of outbreaks.

Therefore, in a fight against outbreaks— one that the global community is notwinning — channelising the power of datathrough AI can be the perfect weapon.Coronavirus and the swiftness that AI-enabled solutions showed here were nec-essary proof of the concept to incentivisegreater resources and collaborations in AI-assisted outbreak management. Now it isupon governments and multilaterals tolead the way in mobilising AI against thenext virus.

(Verma is a lawyer and public policyconsultant and Sharma is a software engi-neer. Both work with the InternationalInnovation Corps, University of Chicago.)

The Coronavirus outbreak has called into question the ability of governments in predicting,containing and even preventing epidemics. AI and big data can be the answer

analysis 07F I R S T C O L U M N

What lies aheadfor social sector As India will be home to the largest workingpopulation in the world by 2030, health and

education are key areas it must focus on

IN THE FIGHTAGAINST

OUTBREAKS —ONE THAT THE

GLOBALCOMMUNITY IS

NOT WINNING —CHANNELISINGTHE POWER OFDATA THROUGH

AI CAN BE THE PERFECT

WEAPON.CORONAVIRUS

AND THESWIFTNESS

THAT AI-ENABLEDSOLUTIONS

SHOWEDHERE WERENECESSARY

PROOF OF THECONCEPT TOINCENTIVISE

GREATERRESOURCES

ANDCOLLABORATIONS

IN AI-ASSISTEDOUTBREAK

MANAGEMENT.NOW IT IS UPONGOVERNMENTS

ANDMULTILATERALS

TO LEAD THE WAYIN MOBILISING

AI AGAINST THENEXT VIRUS

At the start of the new decade, the much-awaited Budget 2020-21 set the tone for the year ahead. With the core themes of“Aspirational India”, “Economic Development” and “Caring

Society”, health and education feature as cross-cutting elements, crit-ical for driving inclusive growth. As a prelude to the New EducationPolicy, the Budget had some key announcements on higher educa-tion, in particular. First, leveraging the triple helix model of innova-tion and ensuring greater university-Government-industry linkage, 150institutes will initiate apprenticeship-embedded courses by next year.As India stands at the threshold of the fourth Industrial Revolution,this move will facilitate the generation of a skilled workforce, readyto be absorbed by the industry.

Second, in a novel step to promote greater access, the Budgetalso announced that the top 100 institutes in the National InstituteRanking Framework will launch exclusive online education pro-grammes. Third, diversifying the options for further study, it propos-es the establishment of a National Forensic University, offering cours-es on niche aspects such as cyber-forensics. While these are stepsin the right direction, we must be cognisant of the sheer scale of theeducation ecosystem. India has around 25 crore children in over 15lakh schools, while at the higher education level there are about 3.7crore students in 41,000 institutes. To ensure the delivery of quali-ty education across this landscape, an emphasis on early childhoodeducation and foundational learning is critical. Beyond the Budget,we need a nationwide call to action for a sustained effort on knowl-edge enhancement to enable foundational learning for all. Further,while the financial allocation to education has increased by 4.7 percent, it falls short of the recommended level of investment at six percent of the GDP. Opening up the sector to External CommercialBorrowings and Foreign Direct Investment may serve as an avenuefor increased spending in it. Any enhancement in expenditure, ofcourse, must be targetted at driving improvements in quality edu-cation, in sync with the need to shift the policy focus away from inputand access metrics.

On health, the Budget provides an additional `69,000 crore.However, there is still some way to go before the 2017 National HealthPolicy’s (NHP’s) goal of raising public health spending to 2.5 percent of the GDP by 2024-25, is achieved. Of course States, too, needto ramp up spending on health as they account for 64.4 per cent ofthe total Government health expenditure.

A key Budget announcement was setting up of hospitals in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode to boostthe supply of health services under the Pradhan Mantri Jan ArogyaYojana, through a viability gap funding mechanism. The scheme hasbeen fairly successful since its launch in September 2018, reach-ing out to over 80 lakh patients across more than 20,000 hospitals.Although the budgetary allocation for Health and Wellness Centres(HWCs), the second pillar of Ayushman Bharat, has not beenenhanced, it is crucial that these Centres are operationalised in a time-ly manner, providing screening for non-communicable diseases inaddition to reproductive, maternal and child health interventions.

Focussing on human resources is critical, not just for the healthsector but also for the broader economy, given the sector’s signifi-cant job-creation potential. Recognising the shortfall of medical per-sonnel, the Budget emphasises the need for attaching medical col-leges to district hospitals in PPP mode.

Furthermore, a push was made on integrating MachineLearning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) with Ayushman Bharat.AI can offer an unbiased second opinion on diagnosis, treatmentmodalities, potential risks and predicted outcomes as well as enablehealth personnel to identify dormant signs of diseases. The announce-ment of a national-level scheme to map India’s genetic landscapeis another crucial move given that the answer to many diseases andtheir treatment, at least partly, lies in our genes. On social determi-nants of health, the Budget increased the allocation for nutrition-relat-ed programmes by 25 per cent and also committed to implement-ing the necessary steps for sustaining behaviour change in sanita-tion and focussing on waste management.

Overall, Budget 2020-21 included some noteworthy announce-ments for social sectors. However, there is much more that needsto be done if India is to truly harness the potential of its human cap-ital for boosting economic growth. As India will be home to the largestworking population in the world by 2030, health and education arekey for reaping the benefits of the much talked about demographicdividend. Of course, the Union Budget is only one instrument for achiev-ing this and much of the action, in terms of increased spending onsocial sectors as well as quality implementation at scale, lies in States,thus necessitating ongoing coordination between the Centre and States.

(Prasad is a public policy specialist and Iype is an educationspecialist. Both are with the NITI Aayog and the views expressedare personal)

Many people are writing off the135-year-old Congress Partyafter its dismal performance

in the just-concluded Delhi Assemblyelections. This is because the grand oldparty has suffered one setback after theother since 2014, though there weresome good patches in between. Now,critical questions are being raisedover its survival that need to beanswered by Congressmen. This is notthe first time that the party is facingsuch a crisis. In its long history, the

Congress has been written off manytimes by its opponents. However,every time it rose like a phoenix fromthe ashes and came back to power.

The slide began in 1967 when theparty lost many States. After the 1969split, Indira Gandhi emerged success-ful in the 1971 mid-term poll.However, after the defeat of Indira in1977, the party was written off. But itrallied again in 1980 and continued torule till 1989. After VP Singh chal-lenged Rajiv Gandhi in 1989, therewere apprehensions about theCongress’ survival but in 1991 theparty came back to power at the headof a coalition, though it could notretain power for long.

In 1998, Sonia Gandhi took overthe Congress amid panic in the partythat it would perish. When no oneexpected the Sonia-led Congress tosucceed, she formed the UnitedProgressive Alliance (UPA) and cap-

tured power in 2004. After 10 years ofthe UPA’s rule, the party faced its worst-ever humiliation when it got just 44seats in 2014 and 52 seats in the 2019Lok Sabha polls.

Now, once again, the Congress isbeing written off. No doubt the partyis going through one of its worst exis-tential and leadership crises rightnow. Thankfully, the Congress hasalways performed well in States whereregional strongmen were given the jobof handling the elections. TheMaharashtra and Haryana polls provedthis fact in recent times. That said, isthat enough for the party to remain rel-evant? From ruling the Centre and amajority of States in the ‘60s and ‘70s,the Congress has now been pushedinto a corner with its governments ina measly five States. When theNarendra Modi Government stormedto power in 2014, many thought thatthe Congress would eventually recov-

er but it has only declined further asit had failed to gauge the mood of thepublic and turn it into electoral suc-cess. Last year’s electoral victories inRajasthan, Madhya Pradesh andChhattisgarh apart, the Congress haswitnessed gradual decay in its Stateunits in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu,Uttar Pradesh (UP), Bihar, Odisha,Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi.Today, the Congress is ruthlessly crit-icised and mocked because of itsdetermination to cling to the Nehru-Gandhi family.

The BJP has vowed to create a“Congress-mukt Bharat” but anOpposition is not bad, even for the rul-ing party in a democracy, as the lateAtal Bihari Vajpayee used to say. Oneparty rule is not what our foundingfathers visualised. Some analysts arguethat the collapse of the Congress as anational alternative to the BJP createsa political vacuum. It is not as if there

is no base for the Congress despite theslide, as it is the only party, apart fromthe BJP, with a national presence. Evenin its worst defeat the Congress man-aged to get 19.6 per cent of thenational vote; about 117 million peo-ple voted for it in 2019. It must buildon this base.

The decline of the Congress is ofits own making. Its dependence on onefamily, its high command and coterieculture, loss of connect with grassrootworkers, lack of an organisationalstructure, poor communication skills,disconnect with the aspirations of vot-ers and living in its past glory, have allled to its downfall. Moreover, the BJPhas emerged as an alternative to theCongress at the national level, while insome States the regional satraps haveusurped the Congress’ space. Since theparty refuses to move out from underthe shadow of the Gandhis, it is for thefamily to fill the leadership vacuum

and fight to get back its political space.They must find the right formula to dothis, fast.

It is too soon to write an obituaryof the Congress. The grand old partyis like an ancient banyan tree. Its rootsare deep and in many States. All thatthe Congress needs is a charismaticleader and a vote catcher who couldreinvent and revive the party. Did notthe then UK Prime Minister Tony Blairreinvent the Labour party and calledit the New Labour?

It is time the Congress wakes up,defines its ideology, strengthens Stateunits, faces the challenge of regional-ism and reclaims its lost space. It wasan umbrella party at one time givingspace to all shades of opinions and ide-ologies — the Right, Left and theCentre — and despite many splits it hassurvived so far. So there is no reasonwhy it cannot do so in the future.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

Don’t write the Congress off yetIt was an umbrella party at one time giving space to all shades of opinions and ideologies — the Right, Left and the

Centre — and despite many splits it has survived so far. So there is no reason why it cannot do so in the future

KALYANI SHANKAR

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 19, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

F O R E I G N E Y E

It is no accident that themost worrying recentpandemics to afflict theplanet have emerged fromAsia and Africa, in poorcountries that haveinadequate health services.Hospitals, laboratories andresearch centres there needbolstering rapidly andshould be the focus ofmajor investment by theWest.(The Guardian editorial)

INVEST IN POORNATIONS

ABHINAVVERMA

YUKTISHARMA

URVASHI PRASAD

SARAHIYPE

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 19, 2020 money 08

CAPSULE

EESL,BSNL to setup 1,000 EVcharging stationsNEW DELHI: State-ownedEnergy Efficiency Services Ltd(EESL) on Tuesday said it hassigned an initial pact withBSNL for installing chargingstations for electric vehicles.As per the Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU), EESLwill set up public EV chargingstations at 1,000 BSNL sites ina phased manner across thecountry, an EESL statementsaid. EESL will make the entireupfront investment on theservices pertaining to theMoU, along with the operationand maintenance of thecharging infrastructure byusing qualified personnel.Telecom PSU BSNL would beresponsible for providing therequisite space and powerconnections for installing thecharging infrastructure. Takingforward the vision of NationalElectric Mobility Programme,EESL has commissioned 300AC and 170 DC chargersacross India.

Birla meetsTelecom Secy amid AGR issuesNEW DELHI: Amid talks of thegovernment encashing itsbank guarantee over default inpayment of dues, VodafoneIdea Chairman KumarMangalam Birla met TelecomSecretary Anshu Prakash onTuesday as he looked foroptions to keep the companyafloat. After the meeting, Birlasaid he "cannot say anythingat the moment." Vodafone Ideaon Monday paid Rs 2,500crore to the Department ofTelecom (DoT) and promisedto pay another Rs 1,000 crorebefore the end of the week.But the amount paid for nowis less than 5 per cent of thedues that the DoT estimatesthe company owes to thegovernment following aSupreme Court ruling thatasked for including non-telecom revenues of telcos incomputing statutory paymentssuch as licence fee andspectrum charges.

Gold rises Rs 239on global cues,rupee depreciationNEW DELHI: Gold prices onTuesday rose by Rs 239 to Rs41,865 per 10 gram in thenational capital on positiveglobal cues and rupeedepreciation, according toHDFC Securities. The yellowmetal had closed at Rs 41,626per 10 gram in the previoussession. Silver prices alsojumped Rs 296 to Rs 47,584per kg from Rs 47,288 per kgon Monday. "Spot gold for 24karat in Delhi traded higher byRs 239 with stronginternational prices and rupeedepreciation. The spot rupeewas trading around 23 paiseweaker against the dollar forthe day," HDFC SecuritiesSenior Analyst (Commodities)Tapan Patel said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Companies in India are pro-jected to dole out an averagesalary hike of 9.1 per cent thisyear, the highest level in theAsia Pacific region, as they lookfor key talent and niche skills,says a report.

However, the quantum islower than 9.3 per cent increaseseen in 2019 and also the low-est in a decade.

Leading HR consultancyAon's annual salary hike sur-vey released on Tuesday alsoshowed that around 39 per centof the companies surveyed areexpected to give as much as 10per cent increase in pay.

The results are based onresponses from over 1,000

organisations spread acrossmore than 20 industries.

In the Asia-Pacific region,India is expected to dole outthe highest salary hike at 9.1per cent, followed by China at6.3 per cent this year.

For India, the previous low-est quantum of hike was 6.6 percent in 2009, as per Aon.

As per the survey,Philippines is anticipated to seea salary rise of 5.8 per cent, fol-lowed by Malaysia (5.3 per

cent), Singapore (3.8 per cent)and Australia (3.1 per cent) in2020.

"Despite economic chal-lenges in 2019, organisations inIndia are taking a positive

view. Pay increases in Indiacontinue to be the highest inthe region," Tzeitel Fernandes,Partner (Rewards Solutions) atAon told reporters here.

A big reason for India'shigher salary increase, as com-pared to other growingeconomies, is the high inflationrate and the war for key talentand niche skills, Fernandesnoted. In 2019, companies inIndia gave an average payincrease of 9.3 per cent, reflect-ing a slowdown in the econo-my compared to 2018, the sur-vey said. According to the sur-vey, 39 per cent firms areexpected to raise the salaryover 10 per cent while 42 percent would go for an increasebetween 8-10 per cent.

India Inc to dole out average 9.1 pc salary hike

PNS n NEW DELHI

Housing sales bookings of top9 listed real estate developersrose 2 per cent to nearly Rs5,800 crore during the thirdquarter of this fiscal year,according to property consul-tant Anarock.

Sales bookings of DLF,Sobha, Puravankara, PrestigeEstates, Brigade Enterprises,Mahindra LifespaceDevelopers, Godrej Properties,Oberoi Realty and Kolte Patilhave been taken into account.

"Housing sales revenue ofthe top 9 stock exchange-list-

ed developers continued togrow steadily in the last festivequarter. Despite all headwinds,their collective revenues inthird quarter of fiscal 2020stood at a little less than Rs5,800 crore, increasing 4 percent on a quarterly basis and

2 per cent in a year," Anarocksaid.

The first three quarters offiscal 2020 indicate that theoverall sales bookings of thetop 9 developers was close toRs 16,500 crore as against Rs15,730 crore during the corre-sponding period of the previ-ous year.

Godrej Properties, PrestigeEstates and Sobha were the topthree players with maximumsales revenue during the firstnine months of fiscal 2020.Together, they accounted for a55 per cent share of the totalsales revenue of Rs 16,500 crore.

PNS n NEW DELHI

India's sugar export may cross5 million tonne in the market-ing year ending September onhigher demand from overseasamid global deficit of 8-9 mil-lion tonne, industry bodyISMA said on Tuesday.

For the current year, thegovernment has allowedexport of 6 million tonne ofsugar under MaximumAdmissible Export Quota(MAEQ) to help deal with thesurplus sugar.

India had exported 3.8 mil-lion tonne during 2018-19marketing year (October-September) against the manda-tory quota of 5 million tonne.

The country's sugar produc-tion has reached 16.98 milliontonne till February 15 of thecurrent marketing year, whichis much lower than 21.96 mil-lion tonne output till the sameperiod a year ago, it said.

According to the IndianSugar Mills Association(ISMA), global sugar prices forraw and white sugar are 20-25per cent higher than the priceswhich prevailed three monthsago when India started its

exports against 6 million tonneunder MAEQ.

"Accordingly, Indian sugarexports may get accelerated inthe coming months, and couldachieve more than 5 milliontonne of MAEQ in the wholeseason," it said in a statement.

As per market reports, about1.6 million tonne of sugar hasbeen exported from India andabout 3.2 million tonne ofcontracts have been signedfor exports, it said.

As per reports available, fewsugar mills are not planning toexport sugar against their allo-cated export quotas. A few of

them have surrendered a partof their MAEQ to the govern-ment, it added.

ISMA said the governmenthas decided to withdraw andreallocate export quota of millswhich were not able to under-take shipments.

"20 per cent of export quo-tas of mills which have notcontracted for 25 per cent oftheir MAEQ by end of January2020, will be withdrawn andreallocated among the otherswho have exported most of theMAEQ and are willing toexport beyond their originalMAEQ," it said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Casual dining chain BarbequeNation Hospitality has filedfresh papers with markets reg-ulator Sebi to raise an estimat-ed Rs 1,000-1,200 crore throughan initial public offering.The IPO comprises a freshissue of shares worth Rs 275crore and an offer-for-sale of upto 98,22,947 equity shares,according to the draft papersfiled with the Securities andExchange Board of India (Sebi).

The company may considera pre-IPO placement to thetune of Rs 150 crore.

Proceeds of the issue will beutilised to repay an outstand-ing borrowing of Rs 205 crorein part or full and for generalcorporate purposes.

The company is promotedby Sayaji Hotels, SayajiHousekeeping Services,Kayum Dhanani, RaoofDhanani and Suchitra Dhanani

and is backed by private equi-ty firm CX Partners, whichmade its first investment in2013 and again in 2015.

The promoters hold 60.24per cent, CX Partners owns33.79 per cent and renownedstock market investor RakeshJhunjhunwala's investmentfirm Alchemy Capital holds2.05 per cent in the company.

According to marketsources, the IPO size willapproximately be between Rs1,000-1,200 crore.

The issue is being managedby IIFL Securities, AxisCapital, Ambit Capital andSBI Capital Markets.

In 2017, the company hadfiled IPO papers with Sebiseeking to raise Rs 700 crore.However, the regulator keptthe processing of the compa-ny's proposed IPO in abeyance"pending regulatory action forpast violations" and finallyapproved the IPO plan inJanuary 2018.

Although, the companycould not launch the initialshare-sale due to averse mar-ket conditions.

Barbeque Nation Hospitalityowns and operates BarbequeNation Restaurants, currentlyoperating at 138 outlets acrossIndia and 7 outlets in theUAE, Oman and Malaysia.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Throwing his weight behindFinance Minister NirmalaSitharaman's budget numbers,Reserve Bank GovernorShaktikanta Das has said thatthere is no reason to doubt thatthe government will be able tocut fiscal deficit to 3.5 per centof the GDP in the fiscal begin-ning April 1.

In an interview with PTI,Das said the government hasremained within the limits setby the Fiscal Responsibilityand Budget Management(FRBM) Committee for thebudget deficit.

Sitharaman missed deficittarget for the third year in arow, pushing shortfall to 3.8per cent of the GDP in the cur-rent fiscal as compared to 3.3per cent previously planned.The fiscal deficit target for thecoming fiscal year startingApril 1, has been fixed at 3.5per cent.

The fiscal deficit is the short-fall in a government's incomecompared with its spending. Itessentially means that the gov-ernment is spending beyond itsmeans.

"With regard to the fiscalmanagement of the govern-ment, the government hasremained within the recom-mendations FRBM commit-tee," Das said. "So, therefore,the excess fiscal deficit hasbeen restricted to 0.5 per cent.The government has adheredto that and a large part of thefinancing of fiscal deficit nextyear will come from small sav-ings."

The FRBM committee head-ed by N K Singh had recom-mended fiscal deficit to be cutto 2.8 per cent in 2020-21 fis-cal and to 2.5 per cent byFY2023.

The panel had suggested an"escape clause" in case of over-

riding consideration of nation-al security, acts of war, calami-ties of national proportion andcollapse of agriculture severe-ly affecting farm output andincomes. Under this, a devia-tion from the stipulated fiscaldeficit target can be taken butnot in excess of 0.5 percentagepoints in a year.

Das said there is no reasonto doubt that the fiscal deficitfor the next year would bemet.

"There is no reason for any-one to doubt that number.The Budget has been present-ed just about a fortnight ago.There is no reason to disbelievethat number," he said.

The fiscal slippage

announced in the govern-ment's new FY2021 budget ismodest relative to its previoustargets.

The RBI governor said theBudget for 2020-21 hadannouncements that certainbonds will be opened up fornon-resident investment with-out any limit.

"Besides, an announcementhas been made in Budget forraising limits for corporatebonds from 9 per cent to 15 percent," he said. "So, therefore,there are a lot of foreignresources which are going tocome into India. Indian corpo-rates are also accessing a lot ofmoney from foreign sourcestoday through ECB."

The FRBMcommittee headedby N K Singh hadrecommendedfiscal deficit to becut to 2.8 per centin 2020-21 fiscaland to 2.5 per centby FY2023

PNS n NEW DELHI

IT services major HCLTechnologies on Tuesday saidit has bagged a new largecontract with New Zealanddairy co-operative, Fonterra tomodernise and manage itsentire technology infrastruc-ture.

The multi-year partnershipwith HCL Technologies willconsolidate Fonterra's technol-ogy suppliers and bringtogether the co-operative's ITinfrastructure services underone umbrella, HCLTechnologies said in a state-ment.

It, however, did not disclosethe financial terms of the deal.

"This partnership will alsoextend HCL's New Zealandpresence to three offices with-in the country and will bringaround 60 new jobs to theWaikato region as the localsupport services for Fonterraemployees will be based at itsHamilton Delivery centre,"the statement said.

The partnership will rein-force HCL's focus in support-

ing the local New Zealand ITecosystem by investing in localskills and partnering withregional companies and ter-tiary education groups todevelop the local expertise tofill these roles over the com-ing years.

"We have been supportingFonterra for over a decade bymanaging its IT applicationsupport and maintenanceportfolio including SAP. Weare delighted to expand ourpartnership with Fonterra tomodernise and manage theentire technology infrastruc-ture," HCL TechnologiesExecutive Vice President andCountry Manager, (Australiaand New Zealand) MichaelHorton said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Private equity and venture cap-ital investments in the countrytouched an all-time high ofUSD 48 billion in 2019, accord-ing to an EY report.

The report titled 'PE/VCAgenda: India Trend Book 2020'said that this is the third consec-utive year that the private equi-ty and venture capital sector hasoutperformed.

"In terms of value, PE/VCinvestments increased by 28 percent as compared to 2018, whilethe deal volume increased by 35per cent.

"The growth was primarilydriven by a significant increasein investments in infrastructuresector, which grew over threetimes compared to 2018," it said.

The report was released onMonday at the Indian PrivateEquity and Venture CapitalAssociation (IVCA) conclave2020.

According to a report, whilegrowth in traditional PE/VCinvestments dipped marginallyin 2019, the growth in overall

PE/VC investments was drivenby investments in the infrastruc-ture asset class.

"Investments in infrastruc-ture sector accounted for 30 percent of PE/VC investments byvalue compared to 12 per centin 2018," it said.

The report pointed out that

largest deals in 2019 were alsoin the infrastructure sectorincluding Brookfield's USD 3.7billion buyout of Reliance Jio'stower assets and USD 1.9 billioninvestment in RelianceIndustries East-West pipeline.

The largest deal in tradi-tional PE/VC asset class wasAlibaba and Softbank's USD 1billion investment in Paytm, itsaid.

The EY report said largestfund raise during the year sawgovernment sponsor a USD1.5 billion fund for providinglast-mile funding to real estatedevelopers for completion ofstalled housing projects fol-lowed by Edelweiss AlternativeAsset Advisors and KotakSpecial Situations Fund raisingUSD 1.3 billion and USD 1 bil-lion respectively to invest instressed assets.

As per the report, PE/VCinvestments in infrastructurespace were at USD 14.5 billionin 2019, which were higher thanthe cumulative PE/VC infra-structure investments receivedin the previous seven years.

Private equity, VC investments hitrecord high of $ 48 bn in 2019

"The growth wasprimarily driven bya significantincrease ininvestments ininfrastructuresector, which grewover three timescompared to2018," it said

Tea Boardpush forquality checkof Nepal brewPNS n KOLKATA

Amid concerns that CTC vari-ety from Nepal was being soldas Darjeeling tea to the con-sumers, Tea Board has askedthe commissioner of customs,Kolkata (land), to check thequality of brew arriving fromthe country at FSSAI-accred-ited laboratories. Accordingto a Tea Board official, brewfrom the neighbouring coun-try cannot be banned as thetreaty signed between the twocountries has provisions for itsimport. As per the treaty, Indiaimports tea from Nepal atzero duty, the official said.

"As the plucking season inDarjeeling has arrived, wehave asked the customsdepartment to check if thequality of tea from Nepal con-forms to FSSAI parameters,"he told PTI on Tuesday. ArunKr Ray, the deputy chairmanof Tea Board, said the agencyhas sought help from a labo-ratory in Mumbai, which candifferentiate betweenDarjeeling and Nepal tea.

RaviViswanathanto join TVSSupply ChainPNS n CHENNAI

T VS Supply ChainSolutions, part of the USD8.5 billion TVS Group onTuesday said RaviViswanathan has beenappointed as the CEO andthe joint managing directorwith effect from April 1.

The city-based leadingend-to-end supply chainmanagement services compa-ny in a statement saidViswanathan would report toManaging Director, RDinesh.

Prior taking up the newrole, he had served IT majorTata Consultancy Services asits Gobal chief marketingofficer.

An alumni of NITTiruchirappalli, Viswanathanhas built and led multiplebusiness units in TCS duringhis over 30-year career.

Viswanathan will take onthe role of CEO and jointmanaging director of thecompany from April 1, 2020.

A big reason forIndia's highersalary increase, ascompared to othergrowingeconomies, is thehigh inflation rateand the war forkey talent andniche skills,Fernandes noted

PNS n NEW DELHI

Reservoirs with cumulative(surface) area of 18,000 squarekilometers in India have thepotential to generate 280 GWof solar energy through float-ing solar photovoltaic, a reporthas said. The report 'FloatingSolar Photovoltaic (FSPV): AThird Pillar to Solar PVSector?' has been produced byThe Energy and ResourcesInstitute (TERI) as part ofEnergy TransmissionCommission (ETC) India.

A new report by TERI hasfound that India's reservoirshave 18,000 sq km of area withthe potential to generate 280GW of solar power throughfloating solar photovoltaic(PV) plants, TERI said in astatement. ETC India is a

research platform based inTERI, New Delhi. It is theIndian chapter of the globalEnergy TransitionsCommission. Thefindings of the report, whichwas released during the recent-ly held World SustainableDevelopment Summit 2020,

have the potential to help inplanning out strategies forachieving overall capacity addi-tion in solar energy in India.

The report has calculated thepotential for floating solarphotovoltaics (FSPVs), or 'floa-tovoltaics', on the basis of 30per cent of the water surface

area of the country's mediumand large reservoirs.

The report provides state-wise details of floating solarpotential in the form of a web-based interactive tool calledIndia Floating Solar PV-Tool,which has also been developedunder this study.

The report hascalculated thepotential for floatingsolar photovoltaics(FSPVs), or'floatovoltaics', onthe basis of 30 percent of the watersurface area of thecountry's mediumand large reservoirs

The issue is beingmanaged by IIFLSecurities, AxisCapital, AmbitCapital and SBICapital Markets

Barbeque Nation files IPO papersto raise Rs 1,000-1,200 cr

Housing sales bookings of top9 listed realty firms up 2%

Das says no reason to doubt, govtwill meet fiscal deficit targets

HCL Tech bagsIT deal from NZ

SOLAR ENERGY

India's 18K sq km reservoir surfacearea has potential to generate 280 GW

‘India's sugar export maycross 5 MT this year’

oungsters are thefuture of thecountry and theyneed to have theright informationabout contempo-

rary issues to understandthem.

Hyderabad-based PhDscholar in Theatre Arts JohnBasheer started his theatregroup in 2013 and has beenstaging street plays sincethen about issues that con-cern the society like womenempowerment, unemploy-ment, GDP, latest row overthe CAA and the NRC andmore.

Speaking to The Pioneer,John Basheer says, “I’mdoing my PhD from SNSchool of Fine Arts at theUniversity of Hyderabad. Iwas inspired to create thisgroup by Jananatya manch’sfounder Safdar Hashmi andhis plays.”

They also did a play called

March On about the OctoberRevolution. He says, “It is atravelling street theatre per-formance as part of the cen-tenary celebrations of theOctober Revolution. Thestreet theatre performance,while presenting the socialrealities of our times, took usback to the conditions thatled to revolution in 1917. Itput forward the need for therevolt of the peasants, work-ers and students to fightagainst imperial, communal,fascist conditions existing inour times and to march ontowards socialism.”

Usually, they stage everyplay at three venues in theuniversity including theNorth Shopping Complex,the South Shopping Complexand the Ladies HostelCanteen. The performers arenot only from theatre artsand also from other depart-ments. More than 200 stu-dents attend each play of the

group. He says, “We are get-ting a positive response forour street plays in the cam-pus. Many students are gain-ing knowledge after watchingour plays. We also startedstaging our plays outside thecampus and recently stagedone at the Ravindra Bharati.We are staging our next inAnantapur district of AP onFebruary 29.”

Speaking about how theplay is created, John says,“Before staging a play, wepost it on social media andinvite people to join us. Weask interested candidates doresearch about a topic. Afterthe research, we create thescript. For us, everyone is ascript writer. After the script,we conduct a theatre work-shop and practice rehearsals.Finally, we stage plays at thethree venues.”

About their recent play onthe Citizens Amendment Act(CAA), John adds, “Recently,

we did a play about theCitizens Amendment Actand its impact on Indians.During the play, weexplained what is the Act isabout and how it’s affectingcitizens. We are not againstanyone. We are just showcas-ing facts about a particularissue. We have seen hugeprotests about the CAA inAssam recently. To find out-siders in the country, it is notfair to force laws on the restof the citizens.”

John said that most oftheir team members arewomen and added that theyare very happy to be a part of

this good cause. He added that they did

various plays on womenissues to create awarenessamong women fraternity inthe campus.

The team also staged aplay about late Rohit Vemulain the campus.

John said that theyexplained the problems Dalitstudents face in the universi-ties by narrating it on lines ofthe story of Ekalavya.

“Not just dialogues, wealso narrate plays in the formof folk songs,” he says. Thegroup says they don’t giveany solution for the problems

because they are not policymakers and only explainwhat was happening in thecountry about various issuesof the nation.

He adds, “The Central gov-ernment spoke about givingautonomous status to someuniversities recently. But onthe other hand they areencouraging private universi-ties like Jio and neglectinggovernment universities. Toexplain this issue, we staged aplay about how governmentis neglecting universities. Westaged the play about howuniversities are sufferingfrom the lack of funds.”

Follow us on@TheDailyPioneerfacebook.com/dailypioneer

Y

WednesdayFebruary 19, 2020

‘Gave up on dream job for acting'

annada-based actorMeghana Lokesh enteredthe Telugu television indus-try with ShashirekhaParinayam and through heracting skills she garnered a

name for herself. She is now a part ofpopular serials such as RaktaSambhandham and KalyanaVaibhogam in Zee Telugu. Meghanahas also acted in two Tollywood films— Idi Maa Prema Katha and Ameerpetto America.

THEATRE OPENED ROADS

Meghana said she wanted to be partof a theatre group since she was eightyears old. “I don’t have any familybackground in acting. I was born andbrought up in Mysore. My father andbrother are engineers and my motheris a lecturer. During my school days, Iwas part of Natana Theatre Groupheaded by my guru Mandya Ramesh

sir. I performed in more than 200plays across Karnataka. Theatreopened roads for me to learn andpractice acting for a living,” she said.

ENTRY INTO SERIALS Meghana forayed into acting at the

age of 18 with a Kannada serial. Shesaid, “I played a supporting role in myfirst serial Devi. I bagged my first leadrole in Pavitra Bandhana. Later, Iworked in Purushottama, which gotme fame and I became a familiarname in the Kannada television frater-nity.”

CHEMISTRY LECTURER If not for acting, Meghana would

have become a chemistry lecturer. “Iwanted to become a chemistry lectur-er. It feels good to wear an apron andwork in a lab. Because of my actingschedules, I had to give up on mydream of becoming a lecturer. Itbecame difficult to balance bothcareers so I chose acting,” sheexplained.

TELUGU ENTRY Sasireka Parinayam was Meghana’s

debut serial in Telugu. She said, “Igave my audition for SasirekaParinayam in Hyderabad in 2013.At that time, I didn’t know a singleword of Telugu. However, I wasselected and the Sasireka Parinayamteam helped me learn the language.That serial established me in theTelugu industry.”

DUAL ROLES We have seen actors perform dual

roles in movies. Meghana also plays adual role in the daily serial KalyanaVaibhogam as Manga and Nithya.Speaking of the same she said, “InKalyana Vaibhogam, I have to play apositive Manga and a negative Nithya.I need to portray two opposite charac-ters and I took it as a challenge. I’mgetting positive response from theaudience for my roles in the serial.”

“I am also a part of the RaktaSambhandham serial as Tulasi. It is an

optimistic character who believes inherself. I loved her,” she added.

ACTING IN CINEMA Meghana did’nt just confine herself

to small screen. She has also done twomovies in Telugu — Idi Maa PremaKatha and Ameerpet to America andwas part of two short films — Emotionand Beautiful Life. About her stint intomovies and short films, Meghan said,“Movies happened to me due to serials.My first film was Idi Maa Prema Kathaalongside anchor Ravi. It is a love story.My second film was Ameerpet toAmerica. I also did two short films —Emotion and Beautiful Life.”

SERIALS TRAVEL WITH YOUWhen asked about the difference

between acting for television and stag-ing a theatre, Meghana said, “The pat-tern and style of acting are differentwhether it’s theatre, serial or cinema.Theatre is a live performance and wehave no second chance to correct it. Ilove to do message-oriented shortfilms. The life-cycle of a movie is just acouple of months in people’s

memory but serials take years andtravel with the audience. I would liketo work in more movies but right nowI’m busy with serials.”

NO DREAM ROLE AS SUCHShe says that she doesn’t have any

dream role to look forward to butwants to give her best with every roleshe gets. She said, “I will give my 100per cent to whatever role I get andhave no dream roles. I want to engageaudience with my acting. Whenever Igo out, people interact with me aboutmy role and appreciate it. It gives me alot of energy to do more and moreserials.”

NO IMPACT She says that every medium,

whether it’s TV, web series or cinemadon’t affect one another. “Every medi-um has its own audience and there isno impact of one medium on theother. Web series and cinema quicklyend their run, but television serialsbecome intrinsic to the viewer’s fami-ly,” she said.

Speaking to V SATEESHREDDY,television actressMeghana Lokeshshares her journeyto acting, givingup on her dreamof becoming achemistrylecturer,childhood andmore

K

The pattern and style of actingare different in each medium.

Theatre is a live performance andwe have no second chance to correct it.The life cycle of a movie is just a coupleof months in people’s memory but serialstake years and travel with the audience. Iwould like to work in many movies butright now I’m busy with serials

MEGHANA LOKESHTV ACTOR

out of the

BOX

With her husband Swaroop Bharadwaj

A PLATFORMFOR CHANGE

Progressive Theatre Group, started by HCU'sPhD scholar in Theatre Arts, John Basheer, has

been spreading awareness on social issues throughstreet plays, finds V SATEESH REDDY

TOGETHER FOREVER Political leaders, bureaucrats, actors and well-wishers attended the

wedding reception of Nadia Naser Khan, daughter of Gulam NaserKhan with Mohammed Omer Fazalullah, son of Mohammed

Fazalullah, retired civil engineer, UAErecently in the city and blessed thenewly-weds. The guests had

a splendid eveningrelishing thewidespread menu andinteracting with eachother.

10

l Janaki Rajagopal Lagadapati l Suman

l Kubra

l Nayani Narasimha Reddy

Hyderabad Wednesday February 19, 2020

CITY GUIDE

GET YOUR EVENT LISTED: To get your events listed, send your details alongwith a poster and contact number to pioneer.features@gmail.com

EVENTS

l An Inspector Calls, is the Telugu adaptation ofthe original English play by the same name by JB Priestly written in the year. The play revolvesaround the alleged suicide of a young womannamed Shwetha and an unsuspecting familywhich is visited by a mysterious Inspector. The play will be staged at Pheonix Arena onFebruary 28 at 8 pm.

AN INSPECTOR CALLS

l Children's Art Exhibition will be held on February22 at Lamakaan from 12 pm. Children would betrained in various art skills during the exhibition.

CHILDREN'S ART EXHIBITION

l Fab Cafe, Gachibowli is conducting a Yogaworkshop at its premises on February 23between 9 am and 11 am.

l Radisson Hyderabad, Kondapur is organisingDimsum food festival from February 20 to 28between 7.30 pm and 11 pm.

DIMSUM FESTIVAL

MOVIE SCREENING

COMEDY NIGHTS

lComedy Nights with Abhijeet Deshpande andRupali Tyagi will be held on February 22 atPhoenix Arena from 7.30 pm.

YOGA WORKSHOP

lCinephiles Film Club is screening a film Armourtoday at Lamakaan from 7 pm. Octogenarian coupleGeorge and Anne's happy life comes to a halt, whenAnne suffers from a stroke and George must doeverything possible to help her recover.

FUN

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

l Each row and column cancontain each number (1 to 9)exactly once.

l The sum of all numbers inany row or column mustequal 45.

Yesterday’s solution

what’s brewing?

l Farooq Hussain

l AK Khan

l Mehboob

l Ateeq Siddiqui, Hasnain Sabari and Jabir Patel

lM

oham

med

Om

er F

azalu

llah

and

Nadi

a Na

ser K

han

PARTY

Photos bby SV Chary

he prestigious SureshProductions will bedistributing CollegeKumar, featuringRahul Vijay, RajendraPrasad, Madhu and

Priya Vadlamani. An agreement to this end has

been sealed between Suresh Babuand College Kumar producerPadmanabha. Suresh is planningto release the film on March 6.While the film’s promotions havebeen low-key, the cast is hopefulthat full-scale promotions will

begin this month-end as theybelieve that they have a goodproduct in hand. The film is aremake of 2018 Kannada hit ofthe same name. Directed bySanthu, who also helmed theremake, the film told the coming-of-age story of a happy-go luckychap who has to fulfil his father’sdreams. The pressure starts get-ting to him, leading him to rebelagainst his dad. For the Teluguversion, the makers have takenthe core point of the original,while giving it a new spin.

ith the month alreadywitnessing two flops— Jaanu and WorldFamous Lover —expectations are highon the Nithiin-starrer

Bheeshma, a popcorn entertainer,to salvage the box-office frombleeding further. The film, direct-ed by Chalo fame VenkyKudumula, will open in cinemaslater this Friday and the makersconducted a pre-release event inHyderabad on Monday evening,with Trivikram Sreenivas gracingit as the guest.

Speaking at the event, Nithiinrecalled that he didn’t want tostart Bheeshma until he gets abound script in hand, a reasonwhy the film took time. “Before

beginning it, Venky told me he ismy fan, assuring that the film willbe ‘what if a fan directs hisfavourite actor?’ Staying true tohis words, he has presented me ina complete commercial avatarafter a long time. My fans havebeen asking me to do a hardcoredance number since a long timeand this film facilitated me withthat opportunity. I toiled hard forwhattey beauty song. Jaani mastersqueezed all my energy. I wasshocked with the way RashmikaMandanna danced for it. If shemaintains similar work ethics,she will reach a big position inher career.”

The actor further said after hisparents, sister and his lady loveShalini, Pawan Kalyan and

Trivikram are the most impor-tant people in his career.“These people matter to me alot. I consider myself lucky tohave a person like Trivikram inmy life,” he said.

Trivikram, who watched thefilm, said it’s very good andpromised viewers that they willhave a great time watching it intheatres. “I specifically liked afight sequence in the secondhalf. From the way it was con-ceived to the way it was shotby action master Venkat,I enjoyed it immensely.Mahati Sagar did a greatjob with its back-ground score,”he said.

Hyderabad Wednesday February 19, 2020

W

11

tollywood

Ravi Tejaendorsed a

period dramawhich has elements

like friendship,romance and

revenge woven intoit. The actor feels

period drama is anunchartered territory

for him, findsNAGARAJ GOUD

aving comeclose toteaming up acouple oftimes in thepast, the

combination of RaviTeja and writerPrasanna KumarBezawada, who haspenned the story anddialogues of successfulfilms like Nenu Localand Hello GuruPremakosame in thepast, will be a realitysoon.

A fan of Prasanna’sbrand of writing, theactor endorsed a perioddrama which has ele-ments like friendship,romance and revengewoven into it, ThePioneer has exclusively

learnt. Trinadh RaoNakkina, who so far hasdirected Prasanna’s mostscripts, will be sitting inthe director’s saddle.

A highly-placedsource close to thedevelopment tells us,“Ravi has been dis-cussing multiple story-lines with Prasanna forpast couple of years.Although he liked amajority of them, he feltthe period drama is anunchartered territory forhim, while simultane-ously possessing ele-ments that one expectsfrom his films. From hismannerisms to looks todialect, the film will be acomplete changeover forhim. Also, he is playinga role that he has hither-

to played in his careerand he is extremelypumped about it. Majorportions of the film willbe set in the Godavaribelt. Except for the dia-logues, the story is inplace.”

The source furtheradds that People MediaFactory will be poolingin resources for the pro-ject, whose officialannouncement will beout mostly duringUgadi.

“The story has scopefor another two A-listersto join the cast andPrasanna is on the job.The film will roll mostlyin May. Chances of DeviSri Prasad composingmusic are high,” thesource concludes.

H

RAVI TEJA gives hisnod to Prasanna and Trinadh Rao

Raju and Vamsibet big on Sai Tej

eading produc-tion houses SVCand UVCreationssnatched theTelugu states

rights of Sai Tej-starrer SoloBrathuke So Better (SBSB),which is more than halfwayinto filming.

With Sai’s last film,Prathiroju Pandage, landingdistributors in huge profits,Raju and U.V. Vamsi decid-ed to bet big on SBSB. Thereception to the recentteaser was another factor,we hear. Film’s producerB.V.S.N. Prasad is extreme-

ly happy with what he gotwith from SVC and UV. Heis also expecting highprices for US andKarnataka rights.

In the fun-filled enter-tainer, which is slated forthe May Day release, Saiplays a student who isaverse to the idea of beingin a relationship, leadinghim to form a club calledSVSB. Nabha Natesh, onthe other hand, plays aspunky girl who challengesSai’s steely resolve to staysingle. The film, which is aThaman musical, marks thedirectorial debut of Subbu.

L

I want to turn director oneday, says DIGANGANA

iganganaSuryavanshi was sure of notdoing another lovestory after herdebut film in

Telugu, Hippi. Her turn in thelast year release received goodacclaim, with many praisingshe stood out from the rest ofthe cast for maintaining a con-sistent graph all throughout. Itis the reason why she chose asuspense thriller, Valayam,where she has scope for per-formance.

“I was on the lookout for adocile role and I got that withValayam. I play Disha, who ishomely, innocent and marriesas per her parents wish. Sheshares a great bond with herhusband (played by Laksh) butafter sometime, she disappears.Is she kidnapped or murdered?Or is she having an extramari-tal affair? Such questions popup as the male lead gets stuckin a complex web. Which iswhy the title Valayam,” shesays.

She goes on to say that, “Thefilm has a simple and straightnarrative. However, the way itis told and the way it engagesthe viewers with its thrills willkeep them hooked to theirseats.”

As much as she loves com-

mercial cinema, the actresswants to strike a fine balancebetween commercial cinemaand cinema that unleashes theactor in her. “My next isSeetimaar with Gopichand. Itfalls in the commercial brack-et. I will be seen as his loveinterest in the film. It was aconscious decision to sign acommercial film afterValayam,” adds the actress whois playing a quirky and ener-getic news channel anchor inthe sports-drama.

Known for featuring inHindi TV shows like Ek VeerKi Ardaas...Veera and BiggBoss, Digangana is passionateabout writing as well. Her firstbook of English lyrics titledWaves the Endless Emotionswas released at the age of 15and was followed by her twonovels — Nixie the Mermaidand the Power of Love. She hasventured into screen writingnow, completing a couple ofscripts.

“The books are very close tomy heart and I hope I will beable to make them into filmssoon. I started acting when Iwas seven years old and I start-ed writing because of the pas-sion and respect I have for myjob. I want to make films that

people appreciate and

remember for a long time. Myfirst script is about life, family,romance and there’s a psychol-ogy angle as well. The secondtraces the journey of a personwho stops doing what he isdoing and takes up what he ispassionate about.”

Does she intend to directthem as well? “Direction isvery a big job. I will have expe-rienced guys who understandthe technical side of filmmak-ing because it’s not just aboutemotions but how sound thefilm is technically. I have shar-ed the scripts with a few peo-ple who share my thought-process. But I haven’t given theexecution part enough atten-tion as of now,” she says, adm-itting that she has the kheedato switch to direction but notanytime soon. — NG

DT

Nithiin says he is lucky tohave Trivikram in his life

SP backs College Kumar

PEOPLE MEDIA FACTORY WILL BE

POOLING IN RESOURCESFOR THE PROJECT,

WHOSE OFFICIALANNOUNCEMENT WILL

BE OUT MOSTLY DURINGUGADI

sport 12HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 19, 2020

PTI n BERLIN

British F1 ace Lewis Hamiltonand Lionel Messi, arguablythe world’s greatest foot-

baller, were on Monday declaredthe joint winners of the prestigiousLaureus World Sportsman of theyear award.

They received the same num-ber of votes, a first in the 20-yearhistory of the awards with the juryunable to split Hamilton and Messi.

Messi, the six-time FIFA WorldPlayer of the year, is the firstteam-player to bag the award. Hethough was not present to receivethe award and sent a video mes-sage.

They pipped golfing greatTiger Woods, Kenyan marathonerEliud Kipchoge, tennis legendRafael Nadal and MotoGP cham-pion Marc Marquez.

American gymnast SimoneBiles who won five gold medals atthe 2019 World Championships,grabbed the World Sportswomanof the year award, her third in fouryears after winning it in 2017 andin 2019.

She beat a strong challengefrom Jamaican sprinting greatShelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who

missed out on the honour for thefifth time. She was nominated2010, 2013, 2014 and 2016 also butdid not win it.

The most decorated gymnastalso beat competit ion fromAmerican footballer MeganRapinoe, Japanese tennis sensationNaomi Osaka, American trackand field athlete Allyson Felix andskier Mikaela Shiffrin.

Snowboarding sensation ChloeKim won the World ActionSportsperson honour, her secondstraight in the same category.

In the Sportsperson of theyear with a disability category,Oksana Masters, born with limbimpairments caused by radiationfrom Chernobyl and adopted by anAmerican single parent, was recog-nised for an outstanding year in2019.

She won five Gold medals anda Silver at the World Para NordicSkiing Championships.

South Bronx United (SBU), afootball programme based in NewYork, was honoured with the Sportfor Good Award. The programmeuses football to achieve education-al outcomes for young peoplefrom underserved communities.

The 2019 Rugby World Cup

winners South Africa won theirsecond Laureus World Team of theYear Award, beating Jurgen Klopp’sLiverpool and the US Women’sFootball Team, among others.

For the 2020 Laureus WorldComeback of the Year, Germany’sgritty F3 driver Sophia Florsch wasthe winner.

Travelling at 276km per hour,she had lost control of her car atthe Macau circuit, crashingthrough safety barriers and leavingher with a spinal fracture whichrequired an 11-hour surgery andmonths of rehabilitation.

In November 2019, a year onfrom her accident, the 18-year-oldSophia was back in the cockpit,racing once again in the MacauGrand Prix.

Egan Bernal, who became theyoungest rider to win the Tour deFrance at 22, grabbed the WorldBreakthrough of the Year award.

German basketball great DirkNowitzki was recognised at theCeremony with the LaureusLifetime Achievement Award forhis contribution to the sport of bas-ketball.

Spanish Basketball Federationgot the Exceptional AchievementAward.

PTI n WELLINGTON

Veteran New Zealand bats-man Ross Taylor doesn't

rule out playing the 2023 ODIWorld Cup but says his form,fitness and motivation level atthe end of next year will decidewhether he actually manages aplace in the squad.

The 35-year-old willbecome the first cricketer in theworld to complete100 gamesacross threeinternational for-mats when hesteps out for thefirst Test againstIndia at BasinReserve on February21.

“I haven’t ruled it(2023 World Cup) outbut I still think it’s along way away. Firstand foremost I want toget to next year - theTwenty20 World Cupand then the homesummer - and then I’llhave a good idea onhow I’m placed at the endof next summer,” Taylor wasquoted as saying by‘stuff.Co.Nz’.

“Whether there is still adrive, whether I’m goodenough, whether I’m fitenough, and whether I deservemy spot in the side. If I can tickall those, then definitely 2023

is an option.”The big-hitting batsman

said despite his desire to con-tinue, he won’t out himselfunder too much pressure.

“You always want to dowell and first and foremost thegame is more important. At thesame time you can put extrapressure on yourself. You've justgot to go out and enjoy it andtake it as another game.Hopefully I can contribute inany way I can,”he said.

PTI n WELLINGTON

New Zealand’s conservative approach againstJasprit Bumrah could become a template for

other teams as they look to tackle the Indian paceace who recently endured a rare wicket-less out-ing in an ODI series, reckons former fast bowlerShane Bond.

The premier bowler copped criticism for hislean run during the three ODIs against NewZealand and Bond put that down to expectations.

“That's the nature of expectations when yougot a bowler of Jasprit's quality,” Bond, the fastestNew Zealand bowler during his time, told PTI inan exclusive interview.

“I thought New Zealand played him well andidentified him as a risk. They have played himconservatively and obviously there was some inex-perience around (Navdeep Saini and ShardulThakur),” he said.

“All teams will now identify him as a risk andattack others. So that’s where the bowling groupand what they do (as a group) is massive. It is notan easy place to bowl as wickets are flat.”

But Bond felt Bumrah's bowling wasn't all thatbad during the series, which India lost 0-3.

“At the end of the day, all you can do is tryand bowl well. He bowled reasonably well butsometimes you don't get wickets,” Bond said.

Bond, who has spent considerable amount oftime with Bumrah as the Mumbai Indians bowl-ing coach in the IPL, nonetheless expects India'spremier strike bowler to have a “massive impact”on the two-Test series starting Friday.

“When you come back from a lay-off, it’salways hard to get into the groove. Just that hehadn't had a lot of game before the series and con-ditions are a bit foreign,” said Bond.

“Although New Zealand played him well inlimited overs, Jasprit will have a massive impacton the Test series. I have no doubt about that,”

added the bowler, whose promising career was cutshort by numerous injuries.

“It always takes time to get back to top formbecause there is no substitute of game time. Soit’s good for Jasprit that he is leading into Testmatches with some short form cricket,” said Bond,who played 18 Tests, 82 ODIs and 20 T20Internationals.

PTI n NEW DELHI

The limited use of Decision ReviewSystem was always planned for the

Ranji Trophy semifinals and notfrom the knockout stages, clarifiedBCCI’s general manager of cricketSaba Karim on Tuesday.

The move to introduce limitedDRS comes after the umpires commit-ted some howlers in some knockoutgames of the previous season.However, the quarterfinals starting onThursday will not see the use of DRS.

“We are introducing from thesemifinals. This the first time we haveinitiated this program, we wanted tobring in semifinals and we have donethat. It was never meant for the quar-terfinals,” Karim, also a former Indiawicketkeeper, told PTI.

“The whole idea is that we want-ed to bring in the DRS wherein we canhave uniformity for both the gamesand that will be in the semifinals. Allthe four teams have been pittedequally and that would not havebeen possible before (in quarters),” hesaid.

The restricted technology forRanji semis will not have Hawk Eyeand Ultra Edge, two key componentsof the DRS used in internationalgames.

“We will be using the technologywhich is available to us. We are look-ing at a very limited use of the DRS.We don't have snickometer and balltracking. We have red zone and wehave spin vision and we will try andgive whatever is available to umpiresfor them to decide,” added Karim.

PTI n BRISBANE

Spinner Poonam Yadavclaimed three wickets as India

geared up for the ICC women’sT20 World Cup with a thrillingtwo-run win over the WestIndies in a low-scoring warm-upmatch here on Tuesday.

Electing to bat, India post-ed a lowly 107 for eight in theirstipulated 20 overs beforereturning to restrict West Indiesto 105 for seven.

Chasing 108 to win, WestIndies were comfortably placedat 57 for one in 13 overs whenDeepti Sharma struck, cleaningup opener Lee-Ann Kirby (42)to trigger a collapse.

Soon skipper Stafanie Taylor(16), Chedean Nation (0) andDeandra Dottin (1) were back inthe hut as West Indies slipped to67 for five in the 17th over.

Hayley Matthews (25) andChinelle Henry (17) blastedthree fours and a six in the 19thover to leave them with 11 to getoff the last six balls.

Henry blasted Poonam fora four but the Indian dismissed

Matthews in the fourth ball.West Indies needed three

runs off the last ball but Henrywas caught by VedaKrishnamurthy.

Earlier, India’s top-threefailed to fire as they werereduced to 17 for three in 3.1overs. Opener SmritiMandhana (4) lasted just sixballs, while Jemimah Rodrigues(0) failed to open her account.Young Shafali Verma blasted acouple of fours before beingcaught by Britney Cooper offShamilia Connell (2/20).

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur(11), too, didn’t stay long, whileKrishnamurthy was cleaned upby Afy Fletcher (1/26), as Indiaslumped to 52 for five in 11.2overs.

Deepti Sharma made a 32-ball 21 before becoming a vic-tim of Anisa Mohammed (2/16),while Pooja Vastrakar (13) wasremoved by Aaliyah Alleyne(1/9). Stafanie taylor then got ridof Taniya Bhatia for 10.

Shikha Pandey finallysmashed a 16-ball 24 to givesome respectability to the total.

PTI n WELLINGTON

There are no half measuresfor fit-again New Zealand

pace spearhead Trent Boultwho is ready to challenge Indiacaptain Virat Kohli on hisreturn to international cricketduring the two-Test seriesstarting here on Friday.

Boult was out of action forthe past six weeks due to a frac-ture on his right hand sus-tained during the Boxing DayTest against Australia andmissed out on the limited-overs leg of the India series.

Back for the traditionalformat, the left-arm fast bowlermade his priorities clear aheadof the first Test.

“That’s personally why Iplay the game, to get guys likethat (Kohli) out and test myselfagainst them, so I can’t wait to

get stuck in. But he’s anexceptional player. Everyoneknows how great he is,”Boult said, sending out awarning after landing inthe capital city for theopening Test.

The Basin Reservetrack will have a lot forthe seamers and inconditions conducive

to seam bowling, a wilycustomer like Boult

might prove to be a hand-ful.

“I’m preparing for asolid wicket. It generally is

very good here and goes thefull distance (five days). I doenjoy playing here, the histo-ry that’s involved, and it’s goingto be an exciting week build-ing up. I can’t wait to get outthere,” said the 30-year-oldwho has taken 256 wicketsfrom 65 Tests.

It was frustrating for himto watch his side get walloped0-5 in the T20 series but exhil-arating to when it got its mojoback in the subsequent one-dayers. The Black Caps won 3-

0 in the 50-over format.“I think it is what it is. I

have just got to put the last sixor so weeks behind me and justback myself to get out thereand do my thing,” said Boult,

who warmed up by playing aclub game at the picturesqueTaupo ground.

“I was pushing in off thelong run. I think a couple ofthe clubbies from Taupo real-ly enjoyed that. It was a goodafternoon,” added the pacer,who sent down eight overs ina friendly game for his clubCadets.

Professionally, Boult had tolie low due to injury, but it wasalso a good break as he andwife Lana welcomed their sec-ond child.

“Having some time awayfrom the game and having mysecond son a couple of weeksago came at quite a good time,”said Boult.

Fighting fit, all he wantsnow is to get hold of a redkookaburra and get a few totail into Kohli and company.

“I am hungry to be hereand can’t wait to get back in thewhite and get the red ballmoving around,” he said.

PTI n WELLINGTON

Towering New Zealandpacer Kyle Jamieson has

revealed that moving fromCanterbury to Auckland helpedhim get rid of a detrimentalaggressive streak and becomea cricketer worthy of nationalduty.

The 6’8” tall pacer, whomade his ODI debut againstIndia in the recent series, washanded a place in the Testsquad for the upcoming two-match rubber beginning atBasin Reserves here onFebruary 21.

“I’m a pretty fiery charac-ter on the field. On the field I’mpretty aggressive. I think itcame out in ways I necessarilydidn’t like. I would sort of doit and then post-game belike,’What did I do that for?” hewas quoted as saying by‘stuff.Co.Nz’.

Jamieson shifted toAuckland, where he was born,prior to this season after mak-ing his T20 debut forCanterbury in 2016 in theSuper Smash.

He said there was a lot of

negativity around him inCanterbury, where he grew up,and it affected his behaviour.

“There was a bit of negativ-ity surrounding myself andthat environment and that wascoming out in my behaviour onthe field,” he said.

The 25-year-old saidreturning to Auckland made amassive difference to his game.

“I’m really enjoying mycricket, which is probablysomething I couldn’t say acouple of years ago,” saidJamieson, who scored 25 andtook 2 for 42 on debut duringthe second ODI against Indiaat Eden Park.

“I was going through a bitof stuff off the field. Just thechance to come in with thisgroup and turn up and learneveryday - try and better myselfas a cricketer - was somethingthat was too hard to turndown, so look, it’s been massivefor my game.

“...It was just a shift that Ineeded to make. Most impor-tantly, I needed to be happy andI needed to enjoy my cricket.Wherever that may take me,then it will,” he added.

British reigning F1 drivers champion Lewis Hamilton poses with Worlds best sportsman of yearAward during the 2020 Laureus World Sports Awards Lewis Hamilton/Twitter

MESSI & HAMILTON ARE WORLD'S BESTPTI n BERLIN

Batting great Sachin Tendulkarbeing carried on the shoulders

of his teammates after India’s WorldCup triumph at home in 2011 wasvoted the Laureus best sportingmoment in the last 20 years.

With the backing of Indiancricket fans, Tendulkar got themaximum number of votes toemerge winner on Monday.

The charged-up Indian crick-eters rushed to the ground at theWankhede Stadium and soon theylifted Tendulkar on their shouldersand made a lap of honour, amoment etched in the minds of thefans.

Former Australian skipperSteve Waugh handed the trophy toTendulkar after tennis legend BrosBecker announced the winner at aglittering ceremony.

“It’s incredible. The feeling ofwinning the world cup was beyondwhat words can express. How

many times you get an event hap-pening where there are no mixedopinions. Very rarely the entirecountry celebrates,” Tendulkar saidafter receiving the trophy.

“And this is a reminder of howpowerful a sport is and what magicit does to our lives. Even now whenI watch that it has stayed with me.”

Tendulkar wins bestsporting moment award

Won’t rule out playing2023 WC: Taylor

Kyle Jamieson after dismissing Prithvi Shaw Black Caps/Twitter

Jamieson credits shift to Aucklandfor making him better cricketer

Indian eves team celebrates after winning the warm-up match against West Indies BCCI

Poonam's three wicketshelp Ind edge out WI

New Zealand seamer Trent Boult celebrates after taking wicket ICC/Twitter

Can’t wait to get Virat out: Boult

Limited DRS usewas always plannedfor Ranji semifinals

‘NZ’s conservative approach againstBumrah will soon be adopted by others’

‘Hope Pandya gets to playsome cricket before IPL’PTI n WELLINGTON

Mumbai Indians bowling coach Shane Bondwants all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who is

recovering from a back surgery, to play a fewmatches before the Indian Premier League, begin-ning March 29.

“I only hope he gets to play some cricket beforethe IPL and always believe it’s better to spend a lit-tle bit longer for coming back rather than rush-ing it,” Bond said.

“There’s no doubt he can come back. I am justpleased that they are taking an orthodox approachwith Hardik’s rehabilitation and T20s, especiallyIPL will be nice for him to comeback as he will notbe over-bowled.”

Pandya underwent a productive net session atthe National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengalururecently.

He was seen facing throwdown in the nets andmainly played with a straight bat. It is not yet clearif he will make a comeback in the South AfricaODIs next month or the IPL.

Earlier this month, Pandya was ruled out ofthe Test series against New Zealand after failingto regain full match fitness.

“That’spersonally why Iplay the game,to get guys likethat (Kohli) outand test myselfagainst them, so

I can’t wait toget stuck in. But

he’s anexceptional

player. Everyoneknows how great

he is,”